I have been wondering how to make my own laundry soap from simple products for some time now.
I started out doing some some of my own research and tried to find recipes for homemade laundry soap. I am not a person that likes extremely complicated things. I am the kind of person that feels if something is too complicated to make on my own, well then, it just isn't worth the time. I found many recipes for homemade laundry detergent. Some of the recipes I found contained more ingredients than the one I chose. Some consisted of heating a solution in order to make a liquid detergent. I really didn't want to get that complicated. I just wanted a simple way to make my own laundry soap. There are two reasons I wanted to try this. I wanted to save money on store bought laundry detergent and the I wanted to find something that worked well to remove dirt. I have a 4 and a 6 year old and sometimes I find that I have a hard time getting their clothes clean. I sometimes even use pre-treaters on their clothes and they don't get stains out. I also have a husband that is a machinist and his work clothes are filthy when he gets home.
I found a recipe that I wanted to try, so I set out to buy the products. I searched about 4 stores before I found the Super Washing Soda that is used in this recipe. I know you can purchase it online, but it defeats the purpose of me saving money in making my own detergent if I have to buy it online and pay shipping. I would call around to locate the product because it just isn't really popular. Look for it in the laundry isle of your grocery store. The following is the recipe I used for my own homemade detergent.
1 bar of ivory soap finely grated (with a cheese grater)
1 cup borax
1 cup Super Washing Soda
Combine the above ingredients in a bowl and mix with a spoon for about 5 minutes. You don't want big chunks of soap in it. You want everything to combine well. You can also use any type of bar soap you want. I personally had the ivory around and used that. It also doesn't seem to have too much perfume, so I thought that would be a good choice to use since my kids have sensitive skin.
To use the laundry detergent just place 1 to 2 tablespoons in the bottom of your washing machine and fill with the water. I suggest adding the dirty laundry once the machine has started filling with water a little bit. I have noticed that this laundry detergent has worked just as well as some of the store bought detergents I've purchased. I am amazed at how well it works to lift dirt out of clothes.
How much does it cost to make a batch of this? Well the box of borax was $5, the box of Super Washing Soda was $4, and the Ivory soap comes 3 in a pack for $1. I tripled the recipe and still have most of the borax and Super Washing Soda left. I was able to make about a 3 months supply of laundry detergent for my family for about $10.
Note: The Super Washing Soda is not baking soda. This is a product found in the laundry aisle of your store.
Frugal Mommie of 2