Homemade Powdered Laundry Detergent

My friend's been making her own liquid laundry soap for a couple years – at first I thought this was weird, then I realized just how exorbitantly priced commercial laundry detergent is and thought, "she's on to something" – but it seemed like such a long process to make it that I never got into it.

While home this weekend, my mom shocked me by showing me HER new laundry soap: a homemade, easy and quick, do-it-yourself powder that takes only minutes to make.

DIY Laundry Soap

Recipe Ingredients:

• 3 bars Fels-Naptha soap
• 1 ½ cups washing soda
• 1 ½ cups 20 Mule Team Borax

How To Make Detergent:

• Grate the soap with a cheese or hand grater
• Mix all ingredients thoroughly
• Store in covered container

To Use in Laundry:

• Use 2 tablespoons per normal load of laundry; 3 TBLS for heavily-soiled loads
• Note: this laundry soap will not make many suds
• Safe to use in High Efficiency (HE) washers
• When using this laundry detergent, you might find it's necessary to use less fabric softener (or none at all)
• Make sure to stir the powdered detergent thoroughly before each use to ensure you're getting all three ingredients in each scoop

I used this wonderful, homemade laundry detergent for a few loads of laundry and everything came out smelling clean, fresh and was very soft (even the laundry items I line-dried). I will now be making my own laundry soap from here on out! Now to get The Husband on board...




*Photo by Sarah B. Danks*