DIY Laundry Detergent
Knowing the number of harmful chemicals found in many store-bought brands, I’ve been eager to create my own laundry detergent for quite a while. I found numerous recipes online. The recipe that I thought looked best for my family I found on prettyprovidence.com.
I liked the ingredients best in this recipe: washing soda, borax, and a Fels-Naptha soap bar. The borax can help whiten and brighten clothes, eliminate odors, and soften hard water, which my house has. Washing soda aka soda ash, is great for removing stains, deodorizing, and brightening your laundry. It can also help soften the water. The Fels-Naptha bar is a great stain remover and degreaser.
It was easy to make, cost effective, and it works quite well. I made mine in a 3.5 gallon bucket so I don’t use as much in each load. If you use a 5 gallon bucket you only need around 1/2 cup of detergent for each load. Since my detergent is a bit thicker I use less than 1/3 cup per load. This recipe makes a lot of detergent so it goes a long way. I give some of mine to family.
This recipe can be found here: prettyprovidence.com I’m also listing it below in case her website ever goes down.
One thing I’ve discovered after making this recipe, the Fels-Naptha may not be good on septic systems. The other ingredients appear to be fine. So if you have a septic system like I do, you might want to do more research, not use much, or eliminate it from your recipe. I’m going to do more research.
DIY Laundry Detergent
Equipment
- 1 5 Gallon Bucket
Ingredients
- 4 cups boiling water
- 1 bar Fels-Naptha soap
- 1 cup washing soda
- .5 cup Borax
Instructions
- Boil 4 cups of water.
- Shred the Fels-Naptha soap bar and combine it with boiling water. Keep stirring over medium-low heat until the soap completely dissolves.
- Pour hot tap water into the bucket until it reaches the halfway mark, then mix in the melted soap, washing soda, and borax. Stir thoroughly until all ingredients are completely dissolved.
- Add hot water to the bucket until it's full, mix it well, cover it up, and allow it to rest overnight to thicken.
- The next day, stir well and fill an old laundry detergent container with detergent. If desired, add your essential oils at this point!
- Shake well before each use.
