laundry detergent

There are so many variations to use.  Mine is a tweaked version of the concentrated 5-gallon recipe to yield 10 total gallons of detergent.  I doubled the amounts of washing soda and borax to give it extra cleaning power.  The first time I tried this (last year), I used the original recipe and without essential oil.  I prefer this recipe that I am sharing with you now.

While I used a Fels Naptha bar of laundry soap, other options are white Ivory soap, Sunlight bar, Kirk's Hardwater Castle soap, or Zote.

• 4 c. hot tap water
• 5.5 oz grated bar soap (1 bar of Fels Naptha)
• 2 c. washing soda
• 1 c. borax
• 5 gallon bucket
• water
• (optional: essential oils for scent)

1. Grate the bar of soap into fine pieces.
2. Place 4 c. of hot water and grated soap into a large saucepan.
3. Heat and stir until the soap melts but do not let mixture come to a boil.
4. Add the washing soda and borax and stir until dissolved
5. Fill a 5 gallon bucket halfway.  Add soap mixture.
6. Stir with a whisk, immersion blender, or paint stirrer drill attachment.  (We have a drill attachment to mix thinset from all of that tile-work and grouting we've done!)  Alternatively, you can securely attach the lid onto the bucket and roll around and/or shake to completely mix.
7. Fill the bucket to the top with room temperature tap water.  Stir again with a whisk or place the lid on the bucket and roll it around or rotate it.
8. Once detergent is cool, you may add 5-7 drops of essential oil per gallon of detergent.  (I used 25 drops of lavender essential oil although I kind of wish I had used an orange or citrus one.)  Stir again with a whisk or replace the lid securely and roll/rotate it again.  Allow to sit 24 hours so that it can "gel".
9. To use, fill an empty container half-full with the detergent from the bucket (using a cup and a funnel).  Fill the container with water the rest of the way.  Shake well before each use.  Use 1/2 cup for every load, even in high-efficiency washing machines since this detergent is a low-sudsing solution.

After you fill up the container, you have tons left still!

This is what 1/2 cup looks like in my front-load washer.

For the price breakdown, $4.20 for a bar of soap (Ivory is cheaper though), $1.89 for the washing soda and $2.89 for the borax (although you will have enough leftover of each of those for 3-4 more batches), and $4 for a 5-gallon bucket from Home Depot or Lowe's.  The total cost is $12.98 although you will not need to buy the bucket, soda or borax for the next time you make the recipe.  Using 1/2 cup per load yields 320 loads and $0.08 per load for your first recipe.  The cost will go down the second-fourth times (since you are only buying a bar of soap) and also if you prefer to use less detergent.  The average cost after 3 batches is $0.04 per load.

If you want to skip the step where you fill your reusable container half-way with concentrated detergent and then filling the other half with water, you can fill it the whole way with concentrated detergent and only use 1/4 cup per load.  I choose to dilute and use 1/2 cup because my detergent is still a little chunky and I think it's easier for the detergent to empty down into the dispenser this way.  Regardless if you choose to use the concentrated form or dilute it, you will still need to shake it well before each use.

That's all you need to know, I think, to do this yourself.  Be forewarned that homemade detergent looks slimey and chunky (let's call it "gel-ed") but I think it cleans as well as commercial detergent and I can't fully describe just how much better I prefer the smell.

If you have any questions, ideas, or suggestions you want to add, let me know!