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
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
- Best EVER Homemade Carpet Cleaning Solution
- All Natural Carpet Cleaning Solution Using Vinegar
- 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...
Comments & Reviews
Crystal says
Which oils do you use and how much?
Crystal says
Forehead slap – so I grated all 10 bars of Ivory soap, how much of the other ingredients should I add?
Crystal says
I’m thinking just triple everything else, buy a bigger container and hope it is something we like because it will probably last a year+ lol.
Crystal says
Does this sound reasonable? Just tripling all the other ingredients?
Liz says
I made this in October, and convinced a friend to make it too. It works really well! There are 5 kids from toddler to pre-teen here, and two adults, one with a really dirty, greasy job. The clothes always come out very clean. We used Epsom salt with cinnamon essential oil for fabric softener. Sadly, I have to make another batch next week, because my sister does not believe it could possibly work with one scoop and keeps putting in 3-4! If I can keep her from doing laundry the next batch should last at least 6 months instead of 3.
Sheila Criddell says
I was so excited back in March to make my own powder detergent…that being said, I’ve been using it ever since, until recently, when my machine went kaput!! The drum was pulled and it was coated in a chocolate milk, sluggy substance. The repairman asked what kind of laundry detergent I was using, I showed him the homemade detergent that I was so proudly using…guess what, it was the fels naptha and the dirt from the laundry coating the entire inside of the machine!! Since I don’t always wash in hot the fels naptha was not dissolving and it was coating the inside of the machine!! My repair bill ended up costing me as much as buying detergent for the year would have!! No savings for me!! That being said, they will have to pry my other homemade cleaners, remedies, etc from my homemaking little fingers!! I love everything that I learn here and I’ll keep trying new ideas!!
Tiffany says
Hi Karrie!
Thanks so much for sharing this recipe. I made it last month and was able to find everything at my local Walmart! It was pretty easy, except I fought with the grater and it won leaving me with to cuts on my thumb!
Since we air dry some of our laundry I did find that the detergent leaves powdery residue on our clothes. To rectify that issue we turned our shirts and pants inside out and ran the clothes through another rinse. I might try the liquid version once this runs out.
Sheila says
I used my salad shooter to shred the soap, worked great and you can find them at yard sales for about a buck 🙂
bill says
i have been using this a for a few years and i put all my stuff in a 5 gallon bucket snap on a lid and shake it up this saves a lot of dust and mess. Then I pour into a smaller contaner
Sheila says
my smaller container is a creamer bottle, i pour out the lids, works great 🙂
Grimm says
I have been using this recipe to make laundry detergent for a few years now only difference is I use Zote bar soap.
This may seem like a lot of work grating (processing) bars of soap and over the years I have figured out easier ways to get it powdery fine. I use to use the microwave trick but it melted the bars into a gooey mess rather than drying them out. I even tried the oven on low but that took hours. So how do I do it? I buy the bars in bulk and let them sit in my cleaning cupboard for 6 months to cure (dry out). At this point it crumbles as you cube it for the food processor. Another more immediate course is to grate the soap and let it sit out for a few days. The soap cures and you can process it to a powder.
While using free child labor is fun all around I need to mention that all involved with making this soap should be wearing a dust mask. My husband, daughter and myself have allergies and the powder filling the air from all the fine cleaning agents cause a cloud and sneezes are heard for days. But then I make large batches of this at once so a few days of sneezing once every year or so is fine.
Vincent Turano says
how toxic is this soap recipe compared to detergents on the market
Jaz says
I tried this last night for the first time and it worked! I used tide with oxi because I have about 12 tubs of it since I coupon. I used a bar of ivory, 1 cup tide w/ oxi, 1 cup borax and 1/3 cup downy unstoppables. I was hoping you had a smaller version of this so that I could try it out first but a friend found one on Pinterest and we used that one. Im going to try your dish tabs later on today after I run to the store 🙂 thanks again!
Anna says
Hi: I have an old top loading wash machine and I wash in cold water to save on the electric bill. I gave up on commercial powders because I always found undissolved powder left in the washer (which not only drives up the cost of any powder formula, commercial or home made, but isn’t cleaning a darn thing if the soap’s still in the washer when it finishes). I’ve been using the homemade liquid/gel because I also found undissolved tidbits of the fels naptha in the machine when I used the powder. I would rather use the powder and wonder if anyone has any suggestions (aside from washing with warm water). Thanks
Grimm says
You want the soap bars to be baby powder fine to properly dissolve.
I have also heard this recipe can be converted to liquid for these issues. Or even better dissolve your powder in a cup of warm water before adding to the machine. You can control the tidbits this way.
Markia says
I’ve used this recipe as well and loved it. I tried this powdered version as well as a liquid version. I’m glad I only made 1/3 of the recipe for the liquid, because I love the powdered detergent and I hadn’t used powdered detergent in well over a decade. With 7 people (5 kids), 4 cats and 2 dogs, this detergent has stood up to a variety of stains. When I made this before, I used the Fels-Naptha, but this time I tried Zote as I found a box of shaved Zote. Using the shaved Zote, making the recipe took no time at all, just dumped out all of the boxes and mixed them all together.
Julia says
Use of vinegar or baking soda with this is make it more effective or not ??
Happy.MoneySaver says
I have stuck to this recipe and it has worked for me without any other extras!
kel bell says
I found this recipe last year made a batch with my grandmother who along with her husband are retired and on a budget we split the batch and since then i have only had to make it one other time ( still have half a container) We found that for those who are worried about time that if you grind all your soap at once ( store for later batch) it cuts down on time. My extra little secret i will buy a box of dryer sheets when they are cheap and cut the box in half to use instead of a whole sheet. I LOVE this recipe and use it with a homemade fabric softner on my bedding it amazing.
berta says
Our family of four is on our second batch (and second year) of this recipe. I do add 1 box of purex color safe bleach to the mix. It only adds another dollar or two to the cost but really helps keep things extra clean and bright. Not only it’s it the best detergent I have used, it’s fun to mix up, and at less than 30$ a year for detergent and fabric softener it can’t be beat.
Raine says
Great price point. We will be using this product soon.
Helen says
I have been wanting to try this for a long time! I have been yard saling and have a box of borax 25 cents, 4 bars of the soap for 50cents, oxi .25 and downy unstopables free. I am going out to buy the soda’s hopefully at a good price 🙂 can’t wait to figure out the cost per load! thanx so much for the recipe. am very happy that it is a powder! not so messy to make 🙂
Rachel says
All I want to know is what size of Rubbermaid container would I need to put this all in when it’s done? I tried reading all the previous comments, but I couldn’t find anything :(.
Karrie says
Hello Rachel, I think my bin is a 40 qt size. 🙂
Rachel says
Sorry for for the late reply last year was a crazy busy year for us! I got a 63qt size so I guess that’s a little big, but it will do! = ) Thanks for the help Kerrie = ). Going to make this recipe tonight = ).
Rachel says
My mother in law & I made it. We love it so far so good!
Rachel says
I always like coming back on here to find my comments, and see when I first made your laundry soap recipe! It has been 5 months, and we still have SO much left. My son is 19 months old. So we buy Purex Liquid soap for him. He has fairly sensitive skin. So I haven’t changed laundry soaps with him since he was born. I love the way the laundry smells after it has been washed. I couldn’t find the Purex Crystals at the time. So I used Downy Unstoppables instead.
Rachel says
Well it’s a new year! I just made a new batch of laundry soap! I love it so much it’s a family project when we do it! Next time I am thinking about trying your new liquid recipe! Have a nice day =).
deana says
I feel like you should include in your recipe the easiest way to “grate” the fels naptha. the first batch I had, burned up my blender. I did a little more research and found that if you cut up the bars into about 8 pieces, microwave for 3 minutes (they get all puffy and crazy looking) on the glass plate, let cool completely….it will then crumble easily….no danger to your small appliances! I microwaved about half a bar at a time to give the bars room to “grow.” way easier than freezing or grating, or any other method I tried and gets the pieces way smaller.
joan maglitto says
just a little fyi washing soda is just baking soda with less moisture 😉 bake at 400 for about 30 minutes then cool put in a container so it doesn’t absorb moisture out of the air .How ever I just add extra baking soda and forget it problem solved 😉
Mama Owl says
How did you make this last 6 months+??????? I might get 2 1/2 out of it! I’ve been using the oxyclean scoop, which is 2 Tbl, as others mentioned. I did leave out the scent crystals… we are a very sensitive family… but that shouldn’t have mattered all that much. Do I need to cut back to 1/2 a scoop? Still that would only give me 4-5 months. Not to mention I like the way the 2 Tbl cleans and smells, not sure I would want to change it! 🙂 I love this, but I can’t justify the cost… HELP!!!!!!
Happy.MoneySaver says
I only use 1 Tablespoon per load and it lasts a long time. Try a couple loads with a smaller amount and see what you think!