Homemade Laundry Detergent-Frugal & Easy #Recipe

Homemade Laundry Detergent-Frugal & Easy #Recipe

Welcome back! Last time you were here, we talked about the beautiful Broomstick Lace Crochet that I had learned for creating blankets, scarves. I hope you enjoyed it and are trying it yourself. This time I am changing topics, I would like to focus on one of the most expensive things in any house: Cleaning Products.

One of the things I have always wanted to do was find the time to make my own laundry detergent. It is easily one of the most expensive things at the grocery store, so it would be great to find a way to create a similar cleaning product that would cost less, get my clothes clean, and it is less harsh for the environment.

As I started to get ready to write this post I realized that not only was I making Homemade Laundry Detergent but so has our own Playne Jayne, Our Amazing Contributor. Our recipes are very similar. In fact while I was searching the internet I found over 30 different ways to make your own laundry detergent!

After researching the recipes for about a week, I finally picked my favorite to share with you. This is probably my favorite, easiest and cheapest method for creating your own custom detergents. The best thing about this ‘recipe’ is that you can create it any way you like, adding or removing scents at your leisure. Personally, I like the way that my laundry detergent smells, so I chose to make a scented version. Not only is this recipe going to save you (potentially) hundreds of dollars a year, you can also give them as beautiful gifts to family or friends, spreading the frugality and fun-loving clean feelings too!

There are two methods for creating your own detergent; however, today we are going to talk about the dry detergent method. This recipe creates a low amount of suds, which is typical for most homemade products and cleaners. They may not ‘foam up’ and create lather, but you can still use a small amount and get your clothes just as clean as the store brands you’ve been buying.

This dry detergent recipe has been researched and tested, not just by myself, but by others as well, so we are all aware of how well it works. The true questions is, will you take the challenge and create your own detergent too? These ingredients will cost about $30.00 (You can also start off creating a smaller batch as well if you’re looking to test the methods.) and have the potential to create enough dry detergent to last you for an entire year. Yea! Imagine a year without having to purchase any laundry soap! Hooray!

You Will Need:

1 (4 lb 12 oz) Box of Borax

1 (3 lb 7 oz) Box of Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda

1 (3 lb) Container of OxyClean

1-2 (55 oz) Bottle of Purex Crystals Fabric Softener

2 (14.1 oz) Bars of Fels Naptha Soap– Found in the detergent aisle. You can also use Zote if you don’t want to use Fels Naptha Soap.

These first few items can be found on the detergent aisle of your supermarket. If you cannot find large sizes, you can scale down the ‘recipe’ or you can buy smaller boxes to equal the amount needed.

You will also need:

1 (4 lb) Box of Arm & Hammer Baking Soda– Found in the cooking aisle

Once you have all your ingredients, you can begin!

First, you will need to grate the soap, which is generally the most time consuming part of this project.  You can use a regular cheese grater, or a food processor, but the soap will need to be grated so that it can be easily blended with the other powders and crystals you’ve purchased. The soap should be close to powdered consistency with no large chunks. Note: DO NOT TRY THIS IN A BLENDER, IT WILL MAKE A HUGE MESS. (Food processors are still okay though.)

Once you’ve managed to shred all your soap, you can relax and mix everything together. I recommend using a very large plastic container with a lid, like a storage tub or a large bucket. Start by taking each ingredient and layering them one at a time on top of each other until your ingredients are all used up. Then you can grab a large spoon (I just bought one from the dollar store specifically for this purpose) and begin stirring it up! You can stir it up between adding layers so that you don’t have to mix up everything at once as well, saving your hand and arm from becoming sore.

Once you’ve finished mixing, you can leave the mixture in that container (if it has a lid) or move it into your own containers.

To do a load of laundry you can use between 2 (normal load) and 4 (heavy load) tablespoons, depending on the size of the load and how dirty they are.

This one stop detergent with fabric softener is going to save you so much money in the end; you will wonder why you never made it before! If you think that was easy, just stick around, wait, and see what other frugal finds we can create! In the future, we will discuss other cleaning products that you can create, or replace with more frugal, earth friendly alternatives. Remember you can package this and also give it away as gifts. 🙂

I’m so glad you came to visit! Be sure to leave comments, or message me directly if you have any comments, questions, or ideas!