One of the ways we save money on groceries and household items is making our own laundry detergent. There are SO many variations, but I want to show you our recipe that we just modified recently and I love it! It smells amazing, and it's so cheap to make.
The original recipe is from The Eco Friendly Family, but I tweaked it a couple times to get it to where I want it. Here's what we use: (Affiliate links below)
1 cup Arm and Hammer Washing Soda
1 cup 20 Mule Team Borax
½ cup Oxi Clean Free or Baby
1 bar of Fels-Naptha soap
½ cup of Bounce scent booster crystals (Or whatever brand scent booster, this one was cheapest)
First, place the Fels Naptha soap in a food processor and set it on shred. Shred the entire bar of soap.
Place the rest of the ingredients in the food processor and shred them until everything forms a fine powder.
This is what it will look like when it's done! The scent booster crystals won't be totally ground up, but that's fine.
Let's break down the cost and amount of loads you'll get from this.
- Recipe yields: 32 ounces
- 1 tablespoon per load, 6 loads per week: 64 loads, lasts 10 weeks
- Cost of ingredients for individual recipe: $5.66, or 8 cents per load. Compare to Tide at 17 cents per load.
With the exception of the soap, you'll have enough ingredients left over for almost SEVEN more batches, which will last you a whole YEAR! You'll just need to buy more Fels Naptha soap each time unless you buy it in bulk, like below (Affiliate link).
Can you imagine doing laundry for 2 and a half months for only $5.66? This is a HUGE way for us to save money on essentials! And it's fairly customizable; instead of using the scent-booster crystals, you can use essential oils. I found that I can't smell it very well though; maybe I never used enough. But with the Bounce crystals, my laundry smells SO much better than with my old recipe.
Now for those of you with cloth diapers, you can also make your own diaper detergent! All you need is the washing soda, borax, and OxiClean, the same amounts listed above. You can add some essential oil for a pleasant scent if you'd like, but I wouldn't use the scent booster crystals in case it does damage to the diapers' absorbancy. It works beautifully! I use about 3 tablespoons for a full load of diapers.
Do you make your own laundry detergent? Is it different from above? Share with us below!
(Linked up on: Living Well, Spending Less , Shaken Together Life , Little Miss Celebration , A Fresh Start on a Budget , Stone Gable Blog , Life is Sweeter By Design )
Jaime is a Nutrition Coach through the ISSA and professional writer. She has 4 years experience coaching and 9 years experience in writing. She enjoys cooking easy meals, running, and learning more about food.
Jaime specializes in helping women with ADHD learn to meal plan and cook healthier meals without getting overwhelmed.
I had no idea that this was even possible!!!!!!
I just found out about it a few years ago, too! The stores even encourage you to do it, too; they have all the ingredients conveniently placed together. =P
I've made this before, I just didn;t add the boune I may have to retry it with the bounce because I ended up going back to my tried and true Tide. I felt like this was leaving my clothes with weird white streaks, am I doing something wrong??
That's a very good question, I have no idea, sorry! It's possible your washing machine doesn't like this detergent, I'm not sure.
So simple, can't wait to try this! Thanks for sharing!!
Thanks! It only takes a few minutes to put together!
I keep wanting to do this and then forgetting. I'm bookmarking this to make later!
Awesome! I hope you like it. =)
Wow, so cool! What a huge money saver. Thanks for sharing!
Thanks! It was killing me how much we spent on regular detergent.
Yay! I love how easy this is! Will likely be trying it out after I finish the giantgiant tub that I got from Costco back in...2012. (...) I'll get there eventually!
Wow, talk about efficient! That's definitely lasted you awhile.
I used to like making my own laundry detergent (like a home chemistry lab!) but then since we moved we've had an 'he' washing machine that won't take anything but 'he' detergent - shame!
Oh dear! I'll have to be careful if we ever consider an HE machine.
wow!! Thank you so much for sharing this! I have no idea about this! amazing!
Thanks! It's a great way to save money on household essentials.
This is great! I have heard of this but your pictures really spells it out. Thank you, pinning!
Thanks! I'm glad it could help.
I have been making this detergent for a couple of years. Not only is it much cheaper, it works great. Super super great. Cleanest clothes ever, fresh smelling, and not one problem using it in my front loader (just toss it in the bottom of the drum before clothes go in). So long as I can get the ingredients, I'll never go back to regular laundry detergent.
I love the recipe idea!!! But I'm so use to using liquid, I'm wondering is there a recipe for liquid?
There definitely is! I found a great recipe here that uses pretty much the same ingredients:
http://www.icanteachmychild.com/make-it-homemade-liquid-laundry-soap-1/