A few years ago I Googled directions for making laundry detergent, made up a batch and HATED it. We didn’t like how it cleaned ( or rather didn’t clean) our clothes and so I scrapped the idea.
Several months ago, the economic climate being what it is and the fact that I had run out of our mega bucket of Charlie’s Laundry Powder
I wanted something that would be effective, inexpensive, and easy to make. I preferred to not have to buy specialized ingredients because with 9 children shopping at several different shops is unappealing and that can also drive up the cost.
There are many recipes for laundry soap out there and most are quite similar using soap, soda, and sometimes borax.
This is the recipe that works best for us because 1)it’s cheap, 2) it’s easy, 3) I always have the ingredients on hand and 4) we love how well it works.
Laundry Soap Recipe
2 gal. hot water
1 bar of soap, grated
2 c. baking soda (not washing soda)
This recipe just calls for a bar of soap. We use the same soap that we use in the shower. I’ve read that Fels-Naptha
Grate the soap. If your grater is in the dishwasher, like mine was, wash it first, unless you want cheese scented clothing.
If your children come running whenever you head to the kitchen, just dare them to try a pinch of this. It does look good enough to eat, but I’ve never had any takers.
Put the grated soap in a saucepan, cover with water and cook on low until the soap melts. Be patient, it takes a while. I don’t think that I’ve ever gotten every little bit melted completely, but take some time and get most of it melted into the water.
Now add 2 gallons of hot water into large bucket. Add the dissolved, melted soap and stir well.
Add the baking soda and stir again.
Use a half a cup on regular loads and a full cup on heavily soiled loads. That’s it!
After sitting your soap will be lumpy and gloppy, that’s normal, just stir well before use.
It is nice to have some old washed out liquid laundry containers to store your homemade laundry soap, then you can just shake and pour in to the handy measuring cup cap, but if you are cheap frugal like us, then just store in a lidded container and use a regular measuring up to stir and scoop.
Making my own laundry soap “Works for Me.” Check out all the other WFMW posts at “We are THAT Family“.For several other laundry soap and some laundry detergent recipes check out Tipnut’s list.
Be sure to read my other laundry or money saving posts or how to create a workable schedule or ideas on Bible reading for kids. Check the categories listed just under the picture at the top of the page for more practical ideas.
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What disappointed you about your attempts to make laundry soap the first time? Is this recipe really that much better, or are you being less picky now? LOL!! I’m only asking because I’m trying to decide whether to use your recipe or the other one we used to use.
I just attempted to make it with your recipe. I’m waiting to see if it gels up. So far it isn’t and I used Dial like your picture shows. I can still use it as a watery liquid, but I wish it would cool and gel. I’m wondering if it’s because I didn’t include borax … or used too much water when I melted the soap? Not sure what I did wrong.
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Raising Olives Reply:
October 18th, 2009 at 7:27 pm
Great question April. This recipe is better. The last one was a powder and left our clothes noticeably dingy and didn’t remove the smells, *yuck* I only washed one load with it and needed to rewash that with regular detergent. The main reason that I like this particular recipe is that I always have all of the ingredients on hand and I know that baking soda is safe. I’ve read some things that bring the safety of Borax and/or washing soda into question, so I like that this has baking soda as an alternative. If you have a recipe that you like, go with that one.
My laundry soap ends up the consistency of liquid hand soap or liquid Tide. It certainly isn’t as solid as the VSS laundry soap, but it has more a more gel-like texture than water. I would assume that you could use less water and the same amount of other ingredients if you wanted it thicker. If you experiment and find something you like better let me know.
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Rebecca Christians Reply:
October 25th, 2009 at 10:18 am
I LOVE this recipe and use it exclusively now! It’s so inexpensive, easy and so far, works really well. I make 5 gallons at a time and it lasts and lasts! Far longer than the million dollar store bought stuff. Thanks for sharing this!
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Raising Olives Reply:
October 26th, 2009 at 1:28 pm
Thank you for sharing your thoughts on this recipe. I’m glad that you like it.
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Thanks for the recipe — I’ve tried and was disappointed with a homemade laundry detergent recipe too. I’ll have to give this one a try! = )
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So excited to try this!
We are a family of seven living in Jinja, Uganda. We moved here 8 months ago after trying four years to bring a Ugandan orphan into our family. The courts continued to give us problems as did the US embassy and so with no other way to bring Sterling into our family we moved here and brought our family to him.
The laundry detergent is SO expensive here. I have been searching for a home made laundry detergent but all included items that are not available to me here. I have all the things I need for this recipe!
Love from across the ocean,
michelle
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I have been making my own laundry soap for several months and i love it. but my question is why do u use baking soda instead of washing soda. we have also been making dishwasher soap for about a month and it is going wonderful. we also made hand soap that everyone loves. i say we because every time i come up with trying something new my husband jumps right in and helps.
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Raising Olives Reply:
October 29th, 2009 at 2:06 pm
I’ve not seen any difference with using baking soda as opposed to washing soda and I always have baking soda on hand since I use it for lots of cleaning tasks. So it really boils down to the fact that it is one less thing that I have to purchase.
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Jennifer Reply:
December 5th, 2009 at 8:23 pm
The search feature on your blog is great! The soap is grated, but I wanted to review the how-to. Thanks for the step-by-step instructions. I’m making the whole batch for the first time, last time was the sample pack from VSS.
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Jenny B Reply:
October 29th, 2009 at 4:46 pm
PAM P
What is your recipe for diswasher soap and hand soap I would love to try them too. Thanks
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pam p Reply:
October 30th, 2009 at 8:51 am
for dishwasher i use
1 cup washing soda, 1 cup borax, a dash of salt (if u have hard water) and 4 packages of unsweetened lemonade. i will not use the lemonade next time to see how it works. because that adds to the cost. i use 2 TBSP per load. i also use vinegar in the rinse cycle.
I forgot the recipe for handsoap on my blog but will post it later.
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Hi I’m really looking forward to trying these out. There has just GOT to a better way to live. This economy is so bad, but for me – I’ve decided to see it as a golden opportunity to get back to basics and simplify my life. These soap recipes are going to be the start. Thank you! I found you by following you on Twitter (not sure how I did that – you just appeared!). God Bless and thank you!
* Custombooks
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I am SO gonna try this!
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I’m a young wife dabbling in Eco-friendly household cleaning products and came across your recipe. i love that it’s very simplistic and doesn’t require me to go to a specialty store to purchase ingredients. i was wondering if i use scented soap (to make the clothes smell fresher) would they still be as clean? or do you recommend using unscented? if so, is there anything i can add to the recipe to give a nice fragrance? Thanks!
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Kimberly @ Raising Olives Reply:
November 24th, 2009 at 8:15 pm
I don’t really notice a difference between using scented or unscented soap. If you’d like a nice scent you can try adding a few drops of essential oil after you’ve mixed everything up.
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If you are out of Oxiclean, I found a good recipe for some CHEAP homemade (it even takes oilfield grime out of hubby’s socks!)
1/2 c. hydrogen peroxide
1/2 c. baking soda
1 c. hot water
Mix together and apply to stains, or add to machine and wash as usual.
Also, I have a fabric softener recipe that I’m going to try. I don’t have any essential oils, so that will have to wait until next batch, but I’m making a batch tonight.
2 c. white vinegar
2 c. baking soda
(The baking soda and vinegar will fizz) Pour into a plastic bottle, label as Fabric Softener, carefully shake to mix before use. Use 1/4 c. in last rinse cycle of washer.
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Savanna Reply:
November 22nd, 2009 at 8:57 pm
Note: Don’t mix the oxiclean until right before you use it.
ALSO: Do NOT mix the fabric softener in the plastic bottle (or at least wait until all the bubbles are gone and it is the consistency of 1% milk to put the lid on) or it will explode. This formula would also be great for science fair volcanos. Haha!
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Kimberly @ Raising Olives Reply:
November 24th, 2009 at 8:13 pm
Thanks for the warning!
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I’ll have to mention this to my mom. We’ve been wanting to try and make our own, but we heard that the washing soda, Borax, Fels-Naptha, and water recipe wasn’t good on whites.
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Kimberly @ Raising Olives Reply:
November 24th, 2009 at 8:54 pm
Hope this works well for you all.
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Anne Steele Reply:
January 7th, 2010 at 10:01 am
We’ve been using the borax, washing soda, fels naptha recipe for about 6 months and it seems okay on our whites – but we don’t usually have a bunch of grime (as we are older with no small children to get dirty!) We DO have dogs and keep old quilts on the furniture to protect it and found that we sometimes need to add more of the soap, or make sure we don’t do a really full load (just the one blanket by itself) to get the doggy grime out. I, too, use essential oil for fragrance – I like lemongrass. Smells so clean!
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Thank you for the wonderful tip on homemade laundry soap, I have been using it for 3 months now and like it. Today I made another batch and for stirring my husband suggested using his cordless drill with a mixer attachment it was extremely fast and my soap was well mixed. It worked very well in a five gallon bucket. The mixer attachment is less than $10 at Home Depot. Requires a little muscle to operate.
Blessings on you and you household.
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Kimberly @ Raising Olives Reply:
December 9th, 2009 at 2:30 pm
What a great tip. I’m glad that you like the laundry soap.
I am praying daily for you and your family.
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I made this laundry soap recipe two days ago and WOW! I absolutely love it!! It works wonderfully and I don’t know that I will ever buy laundry soap again! Thank you so much for posting this – I look forward to trying the rest of the recipes and activities you have on here.
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Kimberly @ Raising Olives Reply:
December 28th, 2009 at 6:21 am
I’m so glad you like this. I made my last batch with Ivory soap and am not sure if I didn’t melt the soap enough or if it’s the Ivory itself, but we were less than pleased with it’s washing ability and it left some white soap residue on our clothes. Everything else that we’ve used has worked wonderfully for us.
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Hi Kimberly,
Just made our second batch today and we love it. The only difference is that I use 1 cup borax and 1 cup baking soda. I don’t know if it makes much difference since I haven’t tried it with only baking soda, but it has worked great so far.
Tim
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Kimberly @ Raising Olives Reply:
December 28th, 2009 at 6:24 am
I’ve heard borax is good on stains. Which is great for BOYS! I need to make some more today. We’ve had a stomach bug and have been doing lots of laundry.
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Help Kimberly! I must have done something wrong because when I went to use the soap this morning (after making it yesterday) all the soap had separated from the water and risen to the top to form a skin about an inch thick! I stirred it up but it just broke into large chunks. Any thoughts?
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Jill Reply:
January 8th, 2010 at 10:24 am
BTW, I used Dial soap, a white bar that looked exactly like the one you used. It’s called Dial White, antibacterial, deoderant soap.
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Kimberly @ Raising Olives Reply:
January 11th, 2010 at 4:28 pm
Our current batch is acting like that. I’m not sure if it’s the cold weather or if we didn’t stir it up enough as it was cooling. Most of the time it’s gel-like, but not this time.
It still works all right. I’m just stirring it up before each use.
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I am almost out of my Charlie’s bucket and am thinking of trying this recipe. I am wondering how it did on your diapers? I only question the bar of soap as I am wondering if it will leave residue (soap scum) on my diapers that will cause build-up stink over time. Have you noticed that being a problem? The new Dove commercials out say it doesn’t leave any residue so maybe that would work? I switched to Charlie’s specifically for my cloth diapers b/c it cleans SO well and doesn’t leave any residue. I would love to find something cheaper that works just as well.
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Diana Reply:
January 19th, 2010 at 3:07 pm
I am also curious about this….I have been using the 1 cup washing soda, 1 cup borax , 1 bar fels naptha recipe for about a year, and am fairly pleased with it. I also use it on my cloth diapers, and have to regularly sun them or they eventually stink. I don’t think it is a build up issue though. Just general info…I remember reading somewhere that when making soap using a ‘true soap’ such as Ivory or Pure and Natural will give better results because of it’s formula, rather than a more modern blend with moisturizers etc. which may not do as good when needing to cut grease. Don’t remember where I came across that, but I stick with Fels Naptha, or Ivory, and have been pleased.
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Jenn Reply:
January 19th, 2010 at 5:08 pm
I bet that is true for clothing and such but cloth diapering manufacturers actually say true soap should not be used to launder cloth diapers because of the residue it leaves. They recommend using only detergents. That is why I questioned the homemade stuff. Looks like I will have to stick with my Charlies’s Soap (although it is not really a soap -it was just named before the difference was a big deal) while I am in the diaper years.
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Michelle Reply:
January 19th, 2010 at 3:21 pm
While I absolutely LOVE this laundry detergent for my everyday washing, I found that it did not do a very good job at either cloth diapers or farm chore clothes–both kinds of clothes ended up smelling very bad using the homemade soap. In the interest of fairness, we have really, really hard water. Someone with softer water might get different results; but for our family, I use the homemade soap on our regular clothes and save the store-bought soap for my diaper and work clothes loads.
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Jenn Reply:
January 19th, 2010 at 5:11 pm
Thanks for sharing your experiences! DO you have experience with what I asked Kimberly below?
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Kimberly @ Raising Olives Reply:
January 19th, 2010 at 3:24 pm
I don’t use this soap on diapers. I’ve read that it will leave a build up.
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Jenn Reply:
January 19th, 2010 at 5:10 pm
Thanks! Have you noticed build up in your washer (from using homemade on your clothes) causing a problem for your diapers even though you use a different detergent on them? This is something Charlie’s warns against(using different detergents for different things) so I wonder if anyone has experienced it?
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Michelle Reply:
January 19th, 2010 at 5:54 pm
I’ve never had a problem with any kind of buildup in my washer. Using the two different kinds of soap works just fine for me.
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just a quick question……does your laundry bucket have a firm, air tight lid,or a loose fitting one?
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Going to have to give that a whirl!
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I used caress bath bar it smells GREAT.
Also I have found that if you use the small side of the grater It all melts.
This time I bought a bar of felsNaptha gonna give it a try
LOVE This Recipe
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Kimberly @ Raising Olives Reply:
February 17th, 2010 at 7:50 pm
I love it when I find a nice scent. So glad that you like the recipe as much as we do.
Let me know how the Fels Naptha works. I’ve heard it’s better on stains, if you find that to be true I may have to give it a try.
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Yvonne Reply:
February 23rd, 2010 at 12:56 pm
so wierd My batch with felsNaptha acted just like
Jills from 1/8 all floated to the top must be the cold?
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I am very interested in trying this due to trying to cut costs where ever I can. I am curious though, where can essential oil be purchased and since it’s oil, won’t it leave an oily residue or spots on the clothes? On a side note, Fels-naptha soap is very diffucult to find where I live but I do have a bar that I purchased years ago and I use it if I’ve come in contact with poison ivy. Just lather it up and apply to affected area and let dry. The poison ivy will be dried up in no time. Thanks for your great recipes and for helping me stay within my budget.
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Kimberly @ Raising Olives Reply:
February 23rd, 2010 at 7:18 am
Hi Cheryl,
I don’t use essential oils in our laundry soap, but have friends that do and they say it works fine, no spots on clothes etc.
I think that some health food stores carry essential oils. I would check on-line and maybe call around to some of your local shops.
Thanks for the tip about the Fels-naptha. We have poison ivy all through the woods in the back yard, so that will be helpful when warm weather rolls around again.
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I LOVE baking soda, and am going to try this recipe today – I’m due to make a new batch of detergent!!! I’ll stick to my Fels Naptha soap with the baking soda –
Sidenote: I LOVE homemade detergent. I’ve been using the borax, washing soda, soap & water recipe. I did find that using the Fels Naptha did a better job with stains and overall cleaning than the “Ivory” type bar from my first batch. I also found that I had to use my hand blender in the bucket after stirring all of the ingredients together – this really made the gel smoother and easier to measure over a long period of time.
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Love this recipe! Thanks I was looking for one that used baking soda instead of washing soda! I’ll have to try this next time.
P.S. anyone try mixing washing soda with baking soda?
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The last time I made laundry soap, I tried a recipe for the powder. It did turn my white uniform shirts very dingy. I am going back to making the liquid one again. I can’t find the fels napth soap, but use a Sunlight bar. I also use a vinegar and water rinse and it seems to stop the build up in the machine. I just put half vinegar and half water into the rinse holder in my machine.
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