Homemade Laundry Detergent

I have been having trouble finding super washing soda I got one box from the Internet but is was to much money to do every time I found a box of pure baking soda at wal-mart for 2.18 and it said on the back to add to liquid laundry soap just like the washing soda does. so can I use it instead?

My mom will love some of this for Christmas....

Hey FYI, Doller Tree carries generic OxyClean for..well $1! When you figure that into the price, this recipie is outragesously cheap!

Can I use the kind of soda ash that is used to control the ph in a swimming pool? Thanks

yes you can

How much Baking Soda and Oxy Clean did you use?

I think he meant to do a 1/4 of a cup for each (that would be half and half)

I used to work at a swimming pool store and you can buy 50lb bags of soda ash for somewhere around $8.
people would come in and buy it for tie dying and they said it was about twice the price at a craft store.

hey there just wondering what is zote soap never heard of it in Australia's it just a laundry soap?Going to give it a go anyway sounds like a winner!!! how about adding eucyalyptus oil...a great cleaner...and deodoriser.

I've made this, used it, and LOVE it. I told a friend about it. She made some with Zote and used it in her HE washer and she said her darks came out 'dusty' looking. has anyone else experienced this ?

I'd also like to use a white colored soap - any suggestions? Does Ivory work well? And if you add essential oils, how much do you use?

My husband has dirty greasy clothes from work. Our laundry detergent wasn't getting them clean. Not even Tide was getting them completely clean. 3-4 TBSP of this stuff works wonders on his clothes. I did alter it a bit and did a bar of FN and a 1/2 c each of the washing soda, borax, and oxyclean. Our daughter who is allergic to most detergents does fine with this as well.

May i ask what FN is and also washing soda?

Thanks, PJ

The answers to your questions are in Step one.

FN = Fels Naptha or Zote

Washing Soda = Oxi Clean

I can't wait to try this. My kids and hubby get their clothes REALLY dirty and store bought just doesn't seem to get them clean! Does anyone know if this is good to use on delicate hand washables, or is there a different recipe I need for that?

Great instructable. I have a couple of tips to add. To get really fine, dry grains of soap dry it out first. Just exposing it to air will do the trick - it will be like powder when you grate it. If you don't want to use a food processor try one of these cheese graterscheese graters. They work very well.

$10.09 divided by 75 loads comes out to .134533 per load compared to a concentrated liquid that does 133 loads for $36.45 or .27406 per load. I'd say you've created a bargain!!!!

So long as you value your labor at $0.00/hr, yeah.

Since it only takes 15 minutes and $12 to make a year's worth of detergent, and a year's worth of detergent can run me $3 per week times 52 = $156 - $12 = $144 savings. That is mighty fine pay for 15 minutes of work. I don't have to worry about buying it for a whole year which saves me even more time and money.

I started making the liquid detergent about a year ago and I am really happy with it. It is NOT an exact science, there are MANY recipes, but they all call for basically the same 3 ingredients.

I have even seen people use bar soap like Zest, Dial and more. But the reason I am writing today is that if you decide to make the powdered version, you need to be VERY careful about grinding up the bar soap. When I used the mini Cuisinart today to do so, it was the right powder like consistency, but would also float in the air when the lid was opened to the processor. People who have respiratory problems, asthma, etc may want to stick to the liquid or use a face mask when grinding up the soap powder. My lungs have been burning all day after making a batch of the powder.

That being said, the recipe I use is one part bar soap - I have used ZOTE and Fels Naptha; ground to a powder to 2 parts Borax and washing soda each and I only have to use 1 TBS of mix on normal loads and 2 TBS on heavily soiled. I also use Oxyclean on whites. With 4 boys and a grimy hubby, it works wonderful and lasts me for months. Once you buy the 3 ingredients, you should easily be able to make a year's worth or longer depending on how much you use..one whole year on less than $12 of supplies!

I switched to the powdered just to save storage space and time. I recently ran out and purchased a bottle of detergent for about $3 and I barely used it for a week!

If you want to save and use more natural products, this is the way to go, and YOU CAN change the formula up a little bit to suit your liking and water hardness...again, this is NOT an exact science!

about a month since I've been using batch #2 with the Olive All purpose handmade soap. While I love everything about this batch, my husband has started complaining about how his clothes itch lately. Coincidence? I don't know, but he didn't know I was using something different. I guess I am going back to commercial cleaners again, grrrr!

try doing an extra rinse or a rinse with vinegar. All the soap may not be getting out of the clothes.

Just FYI to all: there is a fake oxy clean that works wonderfully well and can be found at any Dollar Tree for, you guessed it, $1.00 per 20 oz.!!! It's LAs Totally Awesome Oxygen Base Cleaner. Even the container looks sorta similar. Would save you quite a bit!!!

This soap is outstanding. I made a triple batch in less than 10 minutes. I then put my son's filthiest clothes (he works in a welding shop) in to wash. The water is so dark I can't see the whites so I'm thinking it's doing a really nice job. The value is outstanding and the Zote soap is on .68 cents at Sav-A-Lot. Thanks for giving such great instructions.

I also use a similar recipe, but use vegetable based soap, washing soda, and borax. The key to making it work well is the first few times you use the recipe, you need to put in a cup of white vinegar in the rinse cycle. This will help break up the commercial laundry soap and softeners residue that is imbedded in your clothes. Try it, and you will see a difference.

OK, that was tough. And I already had the ingredients. And it was my second attempt. I think the tough part was that I am not intimate with my food processor/blades/assembly/controls. But anyway, I had a super nice big bar of All Purpose Olive Handmade soap from my favorite handmade soap company and thought I'd do this again. Last time I used the Zote. I didn't particularly love the pink color, but with the earthy color of the Olive soap, the combined color this time is very "natural". I used a tad of essential oil with it and the scent is very very light but nice. I used the Zote batch last time for about 2 months and I actually did notice some dingyness of the clothes so I went back to commercial laundry detergent. I'm gonna try using this recipe exclusively for awhile again and see if the dingyness returns.

I'm not a huge fan of powdered detergents. I found a good easy way to make liquid detergent out of soap nuts. http://www.BuySoapNuts.com

I normally add a small amount of AMMONIA to my wash to breakdown perspiration. I used to add this only to the rinse water, but with my current washer I'm not able to do it this way, so just put it in the "softener" compartment. I'm not sure if the detergent part of the process works as well this way, but it still seems to breakdown perspiration OK. Does anyone have any thoughts as to how adding ammonia will interact with a homemade detergent? Will it "cancel" or interfere with the cleaning action? Thank you in advance.

Just don't mix ammonia with bleach - unless you enjoy suffocating to death on chlorine gas.

PS - I found Fels Naptha soap at a large area supermarket. I'm not sure if we can say which one here....but it starts with a "K"

I've actually made this - - the hard way. We shredded the soap by hand. It was a major pain. That said, it does make a lot of detergent, and it lasts a long time. On the down side, however, it leaves a brittle scum on some washing machine surfaces. For that reason, if you use this, I would recommend alternating with a commercially prepared detergent to avoid the build up that might otherwise harm your machine.

did you get the soap from the paper st. soap company?

So, not including your failed attempt, about how long would you say it takes to make a batch?

Once the shopping is done, it takes about 5 minutes, of measuring, food processing, and mixing and then maybe another 3 minutes of washing attachments. Unless you have a dishwasher . . .

Thanks a lot, bud.