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I have been using this homemade liquid laundry detergent for 3 years now and still love it. If you are into frugal….this is for you!! I did the math and 1 batch of this laundry soap costs me about $2.50 and lasts right at 3 months. That’s $10.00 a year for a family of 4!!
I’m sure you can find these ingredients at your super market. One place you should not get these ingredients is on Amazon. I’m not sure why, but in the store you will pay half the price they are asking on Amazon. I have never paid more than .99¢ for a bar of Fels-Naptha and the borax and washing soda are around $4.00 a box. Of course prices may vary depending on where you are.
To make the soap, grate the bar of Fels-Naptha soap or what ever soap you would like to use. I’ve heard that Dr. Bronner’s bar soap works really good too, and it comes in many different scents.
Melt the grated soap in a large pot with 1 gallon of water on medium low heat. Don’t let it boil, just heat it up, stirring often until all the soap has melted.
When the bar soap is melted add 1 cup of borax and 1 cup washing soda and stir until the borax and washing soda have dissolved. Then pour the soap into a big bucket (I use a 5 gallon bucket) and add 2 gallons of cool water to the bucket and stir. This is optional, but now is the time to add essential oils if you would like. I like sweet orange or lemon.
Now let the soap sit until completely cooled. The soap will gel up and separate while it cools. It will look something like this:
This is when I stick an immersion blender in the bucket and give it a good stir. It will come out nice and smooth, looking like…..laundry detergent (imagine that). You may have to use the blender a couple times before it will stop separating.
I leave my soap in the 5 gallon bucket and use a large ladle that hangs on the edge of the bucket to measure 1/2 cup of soap into each load of laundry.
This soap has been working in my new High Efficiency washing machine for two years without any problems!
Here is a video of our detergent making process….
