A year ago, I discovered the world of homemaking, frugal-living blogs. Some of the first blog posts that I stumbled across were recipes for making your own laundry detergent. Now…. Call me crazy, but I had never thought of that before. I mean, why would I want to spend 20 minutes every 4-6 months making laundry soap, when I could just go to the store and buy some expensive brand name. However, I had to give it a try!
1 year later, and I have perfected my recipe for detergent, no longer use brand name fabric softener, or bleach in my laundry. It’s so simple, that I wish I had figured this out years ago!
Side note: I have a front-load HE washing machine, and as this detergent is low-suds I’ve never had a problem with it.
Are you ready????? 🙂
Recipe for Fabric Softener
Vinegar
Yep! That’s it! I fill the fabric softener spot in my washing machine with white vinegar.
Recipe for Bleach
Hydrogen Peroxide
Again, that’s it! I fill the bleach spot in my washing machine with Hydrogen Peroxide when I have a load of whites/towels. This works great with my daycare towels/cloth wipes/hankies. If I have run out of hydrogen peroxide, I fill the bleach spot with more vinegar however, hydrogen peroxide works much better!
Recipe for Laundry Detergent
¼ cup Borax
¼ cup Washing Soda (NOT Baking Soda)
½ Bar Sunlight Soap
First you grate the soap. I use my hand grater, however, I’ve also used my food processor for this job. Don’t worry about getting soap on your kitchen appliances, because seriously…. IT’S SOAP! LOL
Fill a saucepan with about 8 cups water (actual amount not important) add the grated soap and heat until soap is melted.
Add Borax and Washing Soda. Mix well.
Let cool a bit, and then pour into containers.
I use 2x3L containers, and 2x4L containers. I just pour the soap mixture equally into the containers, and then fill the rest of the way with warm water.
The 3L containers are old brand name laundry detergent containers, and I fill the detergent to the 1 or 2 line in the lid for each load.
I’ve been using my Homemade Laundry Arsenal for 1 year now, and I love it! 1 year ago I bought 1 box Washing Soda, 1 box Borax and 1 pkg of 2 bars Sunlight Soap, spending roughly $20 to make laundry soap, and still have lots of the Washing Soda & Borax left! How much have you spent on laundry soap in the last year?
