Make Your Own Laundry Detergent

Trent over at The Simple Dollar wrote a really interesting article on how to make your own laundry detergent.  His formula was remarkably similar to my own "washing slime" that I used to use on my delicate hand-washables which I'd clean in the bathroom sink.  Like mine, his formula starts out with a bar of soap processed with water.  Mine added scented linen water to the mix, whereas his includes washing soda and Borax.  My mother used to keep a MASSIVE box of Borax in our basement laundry room.  I never had any idea what it was for, but I do now!  I guess people used to use it back in the day for removing stains, or adding it into laundry that was particularly dirty.  It can be harsh on clothes, but effective.  It also makes a great base for all sorts of natural cleaning agents.

Fuzzband used to find my washing slime to be rather gross, but when I explained the cost saving in Trent's formula, he was intrigued to find out if the DIY laundry soap could really clean as Trent claims, comparable to liquid Tide!  We decided that it'd be an interesting weekend project and set about gathering supplies.



Homemade Laundry Detergent Ingredients:
1 bar of your favorite soap
1 cup washing soda
1/2 cup borax
3 gallons of water (plus a little extra)

Equipment:  Big ol' pot (or smaller pot and bucket, big enough to hold about 3 gallons), knife or grater for demolishing soap, spoon for stirring, containers for storing the final product.

The first thing we did was to get our shit together.  We bought the Borax and the washing soda (there's plenty left over to do other projects).  I'd had a cake of unscented Dove in my kitchen ever since my mother-in-law included it with the late, great Aunt Pearl's hand-crocheted afghan to pretty up the musty in-storage smell.  The soap still smelled good, and I knew it'd be perfect for this project.  (The Sidekick is an optional ingredient!)

My husband started a couple cups of water boiling in our big ol' pot while I chopped up the bar of soap.  Originally, I wanted to shave it with a vegetable peeler, but after about 10 seconds of futile scraping, I gave up and hacked the darn thing to bits and pieces.

Into the pot our soap shavings went!  We boiled the whole thing, until it turned into...

... a big, foamy blob o' fun!  Then it was time to add the Borax and the washing soda.

Then Fuzzband poured in about three gallons of water.   We almost used Hawaiian Punch, but we got thirsty.  So yeah, in went the water.  Then we stirred the mix until it was thoroughly blended, covered it (to keep out the dust), and left it to "cure" until the following day.  (Trent's directions say to leave it for about 24 hours -- I think we left it for somewhere around 16 and it was just fine.)

You can tell it was a day later, 'cause our kitchen got a bit cleaner. ;)  The final product, Trent's website says, may be slimy or watery or thick or something completely different.  Ours was nearly perfect liquid detergent consistency -- it was only a slimy, but no big deal.  I broke it up with a wooden spoon before we poured it into our leftover detergent bottles.  (OK, actually I rolled up my sleeves and played in it for awhile first.  My hands were very dry afterward, so I wouldn't recommend using this formula on skin.  Keep it in the washing machine, people!)

The batch yielded enough detergent to fill up this many bottles!  We'll probably use a capful or two per load, so we don't need to worry about getting/making new detergent for months and months!

You might ask how the homemade detergent cleans.  To tell you the truth, I don't notice much difference between our DIY stuff and the usual laundry detergents that we use -- BUT, just to let you know, most of my clothes are black.  So I didn't try any white shirt/mustard tests. ;)    It smells vaguely like the unscented Dove bar that we used, so it gave our clothes a very subtly, yet comforting fragrance of my in-laws' house.  In the interest of keepin' it real, I tried my best to stick with Trent's recipe.  I don't think I'd change anything about the ingredients or instructions -- maybe next time I'll add a bit of essential oil if I try a different soap.  

This was a super fun project!  If you're on the fence about trying it, I'd say that you should go for it.  The basic ingredients will cost you less than $10, and you'll have them for a lot longer than that store-bought bottle of detergent.  Give it a shot!