There are many recipes for homemade laundry soap online. Some help you make a “liquid” type that you cook and others are in the powder form. I used to be very hesitant to make my own things like household cleanings. Call it laziness, because I now realize it was. I used to make all sorts of excuses: “I don’t have the time”, “It couldn’t possibly clean as well as store bought”, “It is not cheaper at all!”and even (shamefully) ” I am not some do gooder environmentalist hippie!”
Then my friend over at SimplyShan told me to just try making homemade laundry soap. I agreed to give it a go.
I have been making my own cleaning supplies such as degreasing wipes, for a little over a year now and I am very impressed with how well they clean as well as well as how much cheaper they are!
To demonstrate how much cheaper homemade laundry soap is, let me show you my calculations.
An average box of 100 loads of laundry soap (powder form) is $18.00. This makes each load 18 cents.
To make my own 100 load (or more!) detergent its costs:
$3.24 Washing Soda
$3.84 Borax
$0.97 Fels-Naptha soap
$1.19 Ivory soap (3 bars)
I used one bar of Ivory, One bar of Fels-Naptha, less than 1/3 of the Washing Soda and less than 1/3 of the Borax I bought so that means:
$0.74 for Washing Soda
$0.95 for Borax
$0.97 Fels-Naptha soap
$0.40 for one bar of Ivory
The total for that is $4.90 = about 3 cents a load. I will probably get more than 100 loads out of the amount I made as well, making it even cheaper.
How well does it clean?
Amazing!
I was seriously worried it wouldn’t. I was blown away by not only the cleaning power, but also how fresh my clothes smelled. The cool part is, it can be used in HE washers since it is so low sud. Don’t let the low suds fool you. It is the ingredients that clean, not the bubbles, as fun as they are!
I suppose you are ready for me to tell you how to make this wonderful concoction since I have you convinced to give it a try, huh? Well here you go!
To make homemade laundry soap, You will need:
2 cups washing soda
2 cups borax
1 bar fels-naptha (can be bought in the detergent aile)
1 bar ivory soap
Start by using a fine cheese grater to grate the bars of soap.
Add them slowly to a blender or food processor and grind into a finer powder. It should look like this before you put it in the blender:
Add the soap to a bowl and add your washing soda and borax. Mix well.
Store in an airtight container.
Use 1 Tablespoon for regular loads a 2 tablespoons for heavily soiled loads. Remember, since you are making this yourself, you may find you need more or less of an ingredient for your water/cleaning jobs. Feel free to play around with the recipe!
Are you going to give this a try or do you already make your own cleaning supplies? I would love to hear about it!
I am going to get my supplies this week and give this a try! 😉
Awesome Linda! Let me know how it turns out! I would love to hear about it!
great DIY and will save you a lot of money
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Off to get the Borax and Ivory now! My friend made this and shared some with me. LOVE it!!!!
Hi there,
I bought my stuff to make my laundry soap but I didn’t get the Ivory soap. I did get some Oxyclean. Do you use that as well? I am so excited to try this. Also I have an HE Top loading washer and I usually put my powder in on the side. Should I put this in the washer it self. I am so excited to try this. I will run get my Ivoty soap tomorrow..
Thanks for the nudge to do my own!!!:)
Hi Betty, I honestly have never had an HE washer, so I don’t know if you are supposed to put it in the the top or the machine itself. I would think, since it is just laundry detergent, it should go where you have been putting it? I do not use oxyclean because I have heard you are not supposed to mix it with bleach, so I did not add it to my detergent when I made it. I am so glad you are gonna try this out! I know I have not looked back since I started making my own!
Thank you so much. I am in the process of making it today!!
I would love to hear how it turns out! Keep me posted 🙂
I got all my stuff and couldn’t find a recipe that was easy to understand and short…then I found yours! I got it all made up, but didn’t add the Ivory so I hope it works. Thanks!!! Love your website.
Thanks Sarah! Make sure you let me know how it turns out! Thanks for reading and come back soon 🙂
Love this simpler one. I made a giant batch using whole box of borax, one box washing soda, one box (3#?)baking soda, one 1 1/2 # container oxyclean, 3 bars Fels Naptha (grated), and a container of Purex Crystals. I store in a bucket bought at hardware store with tight fitting lid. LOVE IT !!!! Later I read that if you microwave Ivory Soap bars briefly (look all bubbly) they will simply disolve in your hands making blending even easier !!
Thanks for the tip about the Ivory Soap, Robin! I am going to make a liquid detergent soon and I would love to hear your thoughts on it when I do 🙂
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Have been making my own detergent for over 5 years. My daughter does too. Recently my son bought his own home and asked that I make detergent for him. The quick way to make a batch is a food processor. It takes 5 min and you have a fine powder
Yeah, at the time I made this recipe, I didn’t have a food processor so I had to use a blender, but I agree, a food processor works amazing!
[…] Homemade Laundry Soap from Saved by Grace […]
I’m still where you once were, unfortunately, but maybe I will give it a try sometime! If I do, I’m using your recipe. That’s amazing that you only need 1-2 tsp of detergent! Thanks for sharing with the Merry Monday Linky Party!
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I really need to try this!
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I apologize if this has already been answered but, do you just use 2 Tbsp in the big commercial washing machines at the laundry mat? Thanks!
Since most laundry mat washers are more than a single load, I would say use 1 1/2 to 2 tbsp per load it is. If you are using a double loader, use 3 1/2-4 tbsp, a triple load, use 5 1/2 to 6 tbsp and so on. I would lean on the lower side unless the clothes are highly soiled.
[…] can save just by not buying common household cleaners such as laundry soap. Did you know you can make your own for 3 cents a […]