Homemade Laundry Detergent

Ever since meeting a few of the Duggars, I was intrigued by homemade laundry detergent. Thing was, I just couldn't get past the goop that was the liquid version of homemade laundry soap (people said it was the consistency of snot, and I already deal with enough boogers and runny poopy diapers in a day to know that I wasn't about to MAKE something with that consistency). I tried to find a recipe for dry detergent that I liked, but there wasn't one single recipe that jumped out at me.

So I set off to create my own, and have been using it now for over a year.

We LOVE it. Friends and family have asked so many times for my recipe now that I felt like it was probably blog worthy (and this of course makes it easier than having to type up an email each time someone new requests how I make it).

4 cups Borax
4 cups Washing soda (found in the cleaning aisle, not to be confused with BAKING soda, washing soda is in a yellow box)
2 bars FelsNaptha laundry soap (also in the detergent aisle)
3 cups Oxyclean
3 cups Purex Crystals (optional)

the players

I shred the Felsnaptha in the food processor. Works like a charm

it also looks like cheddar cheese. Brayden has come into the kitchen while I am making this and tried to eat it :)

I add all the ingredients together in a large bowl

mix together well

Then I take the mixture in 2 cup portions and blend it into my blender until it looks like a fine powder

this is what it looks like completely blended

I have friends who keep this in a cute glass container. I went the cheap route and store it in a 1 gallon pitcher. I use 2 tablespoons per load for most loads. If it's a super small load, then I'll sometimes only put 1 tablespoon.

A few things to note:
- I have friends who use this recipe in HE washers and it works fine. Thanks to one of my readers though, she has said that Oxyclean can cause damage to some machines (see comments for our dialogue). So, it's probably best if you check with your specific make/model washing machine to make sure that you can use certain elements of this recipe (ie: Oxyclean) if you indeed have an HE machine.
- I have found that the Oxyclean and the Purex Crystals tend to be cheaper at Sam's, unless you can find a killer coupon. Since we don't subscribe to the paper anymore, we get these two items at Sams.
- this recipe makes enough to last our family approximately 6 months. On average we wash about 3-4 loads a week. If you have a smaller family, then you may want to cut this recipe in half, otherwise you will have A LOT of detergent for your household.
- you will have enough borax, washing soda, crystals & oxyclean to last you through two batches of this recipe, so basically, a little more than a years supply.

 
- Here's a breakdown of costs for a years supply of homemade laundry detergent:
Borax: $3.38
Washing Soda: $3.24
Felsnaptha: $0.97 (x4)
Oxyclean: $15
Purex Crystals: $9
Total: $34.50


Not too shabby for a years worth of detergent!

This post is linked on Inspire Me Please with House of Rose