My Own Laundry Detergent

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January 20, 2015 by CJ

I often cringe inside when I mention that I make my own laundry detergent.  I’m not a granola-eating hippy (that’s the image I see when I use to think of people who made their own detergent).  Sometimes I wonder do people think I’m one of those people?  Those people who churn their own butter, hand sew their own clothes and maintains their own farm just to feed and clothe their family.  Needless to say, I’m not one of those people, not that anything is wrong with them.  I just take some enjoyment out of making some things on my own, which in turn help my family.

I mentioned in previous posts that my family has sensitive skin full of allergies.  I investigated, made up various concoctions and now have a product, which cleans our clothes, keeps everyone skin happy, is fairly inexpensive and most importantly, it’s easy to make.

I found the recipe that works best here.  It is a pretty simple recipe and after making the trial version, I doubled it up to make enough to last my family a few months.

1. 2 bars Fels Naptha grated 
2. 6 cups of Borax 
3. 4 cups washing soda 
4. 1.5 cup Baking soda 
5. 9 cups oxygen bleach (I use Oxi-Clean) 
6. 2 cups fabric softener crystals 

I cut up my Fels Naptha, prior to putting it in my blender to grate it up.

Mix all the above together and you have your very own laundry detergent!  The entire process takes maybe 20 minutes.

I keep my detergent in plastic cereal containers.

They are airtight and I don’t have a problem with the detergent clumping up.  I discovered them when I cleaned out my pantry.  My kids use to eat a ton of cold cereal, I use to have to keep cases of the stuff.  But now, they prefer waffles or oatmeal in the morning.

After a couple of loads have been washed, I’ll shake it up again to make sure everything is properly mixed.  I use 2-3 tablespoons per load.  It really depends on the size and how dirty the load is.

Do you make your own laundry detergent?