You have heard me talk about my friend Beth before on this blog. Beth is a mom to 4 boys and I am sure always has a load of laundry going. She shared with me a few weeks ago about a laundry detergent that she had made and is using it. She has always been a Tide girl and she said this is as good as her Tide.

She shared with me the recipe for the detergent that is in liquid form. I ran out and bought all the stuff to do the detergent and then it sat in the laundry room for 2 months. :) (sorry Beth)

But I have now tried it and I love it. Beth and I used the same ingredients but I kept my detergent in powder form and she made hers liquid. I kept mine in powder form because of space.

Today I want to share with the quick methods of making your detergent at home. I will also post the liquid method tomorrow. Here is what you need.....

1 bar of Fels Naptha soap. This can be found in the laundry section of your store or maybe in the bathing soap section if the stock boy didn't know what it was :) If you can not find this soap, Ivory soap or another natural lye soap works fine.

Borax This can be found in the laundry section of your store.



Arm & Hammer Washing Soda. Don't confuse this with baking soda. It is two different products. This can also be found in your laundry section.

Putting it together.

I use a food processor for this but if you need to hand grate, just grate soap fine over a large bowl.

Grate 1 bar of soap. If using a food processor, cut the soap into chunks and put in food processor and add the remaining ingredients as follows.
1/2 Cup Borax
1/2 Cup Washing Soda
Mix together completely. If you are using the food processor, mix until the soap chunks are fine.

Get a container that has a lid that seals and place your detergent in it. The measurment that you use is 1 tablespoon for one load of laundry. I just keep a measuring spoon in my container for easy use. Be sure to write the measurment on the container to where others can help you with the laundry.

From my calculations, this way of doing laundry cost about 7 cents per load. My old method of doing laundry cost 21 cents per load. Wow a savings of 14 cents per load. That might not sound like much but you are cutting your laundry cost by 2/3 by doing it this way.

I like this detergent. It has no smell to it. If you want a fragrance, then I would suggest buying a soap that has fragrance and maybe doing 1/2 of the Nels Naptha and 1/2 the fragrance soap and then adjust if needed. Our clothes are coming out clean and stains are not being left in the fabric.

Thanks Beth for opening my eyes to this way of saving money and also going a little greener because I am not using all those plastic bottles and throwing them away.

Tomorrow I will post the liquid method of doing the laundry detergent.

4 Thoughts Shared

  1. Jendi // 08 September, 2009  

    That does sound easier than the other methods I've read. Just might have to try this one. :)
    And, yes, the savings makes me want to try it.

  2. 2guatekids // 08 September, 2009  

    Anna,
    I have been doing this for several months now and I love it! It has saved us so much money. The only difference is I use Ivory soap. Thanks for sharing this.
    Eve

  3. Janell // 08 September, 2009  

    I would love to try this but I dont think I can get the Arm & Hammer stuff here! It will be something I have to bring from the states....hey Randy is supposed to come in November - maybe you can send some with him? It is small enough for him to bring? I will link to this from my blog - it is a great idea!

  4. Anna Mcmullen // 08 September, 2009  

    Eve, thanks for letting me know what type of soap you use. Do you do the liquid method or the dry?
    I think the next time I am going to do a 1/2 and 1/2 mixture of fragrance soap and the other for my sheets and towels.
    Maybe have a selection of detergents. hehe