Four Season Thinking: Homemade Laundry Detergent

There are a few things I really enjoy. Making products from scratch, using ingredients that come from the earth, and saving money. So, when I find a project that includes all three of those criteria I jump on it.

Today that project was homemade laundry detergent. Being in college with no source of income really tests my ability to stretch my wallet. When I read about making my own detergent I was really intrigued by the cost. EXTREMELY LOW. There are only 4 ingredients (in the detergent I made, others have more) and every one of them was very cheap.

Ingredients

- 1 quart Water (boiling)

- 2 cups Bar soap (grated)

- 2 cups Borax

- 2 cups Washing Soda

- Essential Oils (optional)

You can find Borax at Walmart or Target in the detergent aisle. It is a mineral used for a variety of household cleaning.

I used baking soda instead of washing soda... I'm not sure if they are different or just the same thing with two different names. Anyone know?

First, grate your bar soap. I used a soap by Dove (I read online that you should avoid detergent beauty bars with added free oils. (i.e. dove, etc) oops, hopefully my batch will turn out okay anyway), just because thats all I had laying around. I found that using a lemon zester to grate the soap worked very well, because when I added it to the water it dissolved instantly.

Next, bring 1 quart water to a boil and stir in bar soap shavings.

Then, pour the soap mixture into a tub/large bowl and stir in the Borax and Washing soda. Stir until dissolved. Mixture should come out looking similar to cake frosting.

Finally, add 2 gallons of water to the mixture and stir until all the soap is throughly blended, add 10ish drops of essential oils if you like (I used lavender Mhmmm), store in a covered container, and your done!!!