Homemade Laundry Detergent – Big Money Saver!!!!!

It’s time to make some more laundry detergent!!  Our family is completely out!!!! I really like this recipe since it is so inexpensive to make. If you add it up, it comes out to costing about $.60 a gallon. It is so much cheaper than buying Tide. I used to buy one large Tide container a week. Then one year, my husband lost his job and buying Tide was out of the picture. It was better to have food on the table than buy expensive laundry detergent. Everyone thought I was a little

“nuts” but we had to do something. Anyway, this is the recipe I use and it doesn’t cost a whole lot to get started. Once you buy the several ingredients you need, you will be set to make many batches. I mean like several years worth. I only have to buy a bar of soap to start a new batch – which cost me only around $1. To get started, you will need to purchase these three things:

1 box of Borax

1 box of Washing Soda

1 bar of Fels Naptha soap

All of these items can be found at Wal-Mart or Kroger. Sometimes I have the kids grate the soap bar. It looks just like cheese!!!!! But it tastes and smells so different!!!! No, we do not eat it – just kidding. But yes, it does look like shredded cheese. This makes it a little faster to dissolve in the hot water. Just put the grated soap in a large pan of hot water. I always turn my stove on a low setting. I learned that the hard way. This soap will boil over and create such a mess!!! It’s a fast way to clean your stovetop though. haha  

Anyway, back to our soapmaking – just make sure all the soap is dissolved. Then take the pan off the burner and let the soap solution cool off. By the way, if you forget about it the whole pan of soap solution will turn into one big lump of goop. I’ve done this several times so I have found out that just heating it on low for a while will bring it back to the consistency you want. You might have to add just a little water though. 

In the meantime, you will need to find a clean 5 gallon bucket and pour in 1/2 cup of Borax and 1 cup of Washing Soda. Remember this is Washing Soda not Baking Soda. Then add a gallon or so of hot water from the faucet. You will want to stir all this together until all of the solution has been dissolved. I use a long plastic spoon for stirring. Keep adding warm water until the 5 gallon bucket has been filled to the top. Then stir again. When finished, it is best to let the detergent set overnight. If you are really in a hurry, you can go ahead and use it immediately. But just remember-the detergent will be a bit runny.

By the next morning, it will have formed into a giant pile of goop. Our son loves to help me stir it with his bare hands. He seriously sticks both arms into the bucket of stringy, gummy, globby goop. It looks like one giant loogy.  He likes to see my reaction to such a horrible mess!!! 

I always transfer my detergent into clear juice containers to make it easier to pour into the washer. Oh, and by the way, this detergent works great with front-load washers. You will want to fill the containers only half way. Then finish filling them with water. Once the containers are full, I give them a good shake. Now the detergent is completely ready for use. So a 5 gallon bucket of solution will make about 10 gallons of detergent. You can’t beat that!!

I usually use about a cup of detergent per load. Well, I hope this helps save everyone money and time. Have fun making this crazy goopy mess! Your kids will absolutely love it!!!!!!!