Making your own Laundry Detergent {Worth the cost?}

 Making your own Homemade Laundry Detergent

I finally decided to try and make my own homemade laundry detergent using ingredients you can buy at your local supermarket. I was a little bit worried when I saw how many ingredients I needed to buy to make this, and wondered if this would really be cost effective or not. But after making this, doing the math and using it I can tell I will always be making and using my own homemade from now on. It’s a great way to save money!

Here are the cast of ingredients to make your own homemade laundry detergent:

1 Box of Super Washing Soda 3 lb. 7 oz. ($3.24)
1 Box of Borax 4 lbs 12 oz. size ($3.38)
1 Box of Pure Baking Soda 4 lb. ($2.12)
3 bars of Fels-Naptha 5.5 oz. or you could also use Ivory soap ($0.97 x3)
1 container of Oxy-Clean 1.3 lb ($3.86)
*optional: Purex Crystals 28 oz. for scent (or you could use Downy unstoppables ) ($5-$6)

All these ingredients cost a total of $20.27 out of my pocket (Walmart prices).

And that was without using coupons. If some coupons become available you will spend even less. 

The first step is to grate your Fels-Naptha Bar. You can use a cheese grater to do this, but I used my food processor as it was a lot quicker. Using my food processor I first grated the bar like cheese, and then used the regular blade to grate down fine.  You could use Ivory soap (just microwave it and it will foam where you can just crush it into a fine grade).

Next I grabbed one of my plastic tote bins and put a black garbage bag inside of it. Then I poured each one of the ingredients inside like so.

Mix all these ingredients up well. Possibly throw in some free child labor.

Then add it all to your container of choice.

There is quite a lot of this homemade laundry detergent. In fact it is 18 lbs. worth!

That is 18 lbs of Laundry Detergent!

You only need to use 1-2 tablespoons per load, and yes you can use it in your High Efficiency washing machines (that’s what I have been using).  Some people worry that just 1-2 tablespoons is not enough, but this stuff is concentrated and works really well!  I have been using it for months now.  My daughter has really sensitive skin, and this has been wonderful for her since all the others out there have add-ins.

But is this cost effective?

So I did the math of course, to figure out how much per load this recipe makes. I am super excited about the results because it is as low as $0.04 per load which is a stock up price when it comes to laundry detergent and using coupons. But watch for coupons on these items to even make the cost lower.

By Comparison –

Ultra Tide powder 143 oz. box, 8.9 lbs. = $17.97 at Walmart ($0.12 per load)

This Homemade Laundry Detergent recipe makes 18 lbs (or 288 oz.) and costs $20.27.  1 lb of this is about 28 tablespoons.  18 lbs equals 504 loads @ 1 tbsp per load. Final price is just $0.04 per load!

So $0.04 per load homemade versus $0.12 per load (Tide).

So even the largest box of Tide detergent at Walmart which has 102 loads won’t last as long as this homemade stuff. And you can save so much money by making this yourself. Give it a try, you won’t be sorry…I promise!

Homemade Laundry Detergent

With just a few ingredients you can make your very own homemade laundry detergent. Not only does it cost a fraction of store bought detergent, you also know exactly what’s in it! Finally, a sensitive skin friendly laundry soap that gets clothes super clean!

4.06 from 17 votes

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Author: Karrie

Ingredients

• 1 box Super Washing Soda 3.7 lb
• 1 box Borax 4 lb 12 oz. size
• 1 box Pure Baking Soda 4 lbs
• 3 5.5 oz bars of Fels-Naptha
• 1 container Oxy-Clean 1.3 lb
• 1 28 oz *optional: Purex Crystals for scent or you could use Downy un-stoppables

Instructions

• Finely grate the Fels-Naptha. Mix all the ingredients together and store in container of your choice. Use only 1-2 Tablespoons of detergent per load.

Homemade Laundry Detergent – costs $20.27 to make – can last a whole year or even longer (504 loads)

Updating this post: this recipe has lasted 10 months for my family of 6!! Plus I wanted to share this awesome comment posted from Nick (thanks for your service Nick!):

I think that is the best comment ever!

OTHER GREAT DIY CLEANING RECIPES

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• DIY Carpet Cleaner Powder Dry Shampoo
• Homemade Armor All Car Cleaning Spray
• DIY Liquid Hand Soap recipe
• Make Your Own Swiffer Wet Pads

About Karrie

Food is my love language. But so is saving money. So I like to combine the two a lot and make thrifty make ahead and freeze meals to save time. Because life is busy, and freezer meals can come to the rescue for all of us. And yes, they actually CAN taste good. Read more...