But who can endure the day of His coming?
And who can stand when He appears?
For He is like a refiner’s fire
And like launderers’ soap.
Malachi 3:2
When I first read about making homemade laundry soap, I was excited but skeptical. Would it save me any money? (Yes!). Would it take a lot of time? (About 15 minutes per batch). Would our clothes look clean and smell good? (Yes!) Would it cause problems for our washing machine? (No).
So, when we decided to do it, we took pictures of all the steps along the way so you can see how easy it is and what things should look like along the way.
We purchased three ingredients at a total cost of under $11.00. This will make 8 batches of liquid laundry soap.
Soap (You need one bar per batch). We chose Ivory. If you use Fels Naptha, you will use less, about 1/3 of a bar.
Arm and Hammer Washing Soda (Available in the laundry area)
20 Mule Team Borax (Available in the laundry area)
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| Step One: Shred, chop or shave your soap into small pieces. |
| Step Two: Measure and start heating water. You will need 6 cups of water heated to melt the soap in a sauce pan. Add the soap and water to the pan. |
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| Step Three: Once the soap is all dissolved, you stir in half a cup of Borax and half a cup of Arm and Hammer Washing Soda. Stir over the heat until it is all dissolved. |
| Step Four: Remove from heat and pour into a large bucket. I used a five gallon bucket, but a smaller bucket would have been just fine. |
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| Step Five: Add four cups more of hot water to the bucket and stir until well blended. |
| Step Six: Add one gallon plus six cups of cold water to the mixture. Mix well. Let sit for 24 hours. |
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| Store it in your old laundry soap bottle or other plastic container for easy pouring. |
| Ready to use! I used 1/4 of a cup because I have a high efficiency machine. Most would probably use half a cup. It looks like a liquid gel. |
| Questions |
| What about scent? If you want a scent other than the soap smell, you can add 1/2 – 1 oz of essential oils. I have not tried that yet because I have a daughter with Asthma, and I wanted to try a batch with no scent first. |
| There are no suds. Is it cleaning? This has low suds, so if you open the washer and look you will not see a lot of suds. |
| Does it clean and deodorize well? Our laundry smells good and clean. The results are very good. So far we have not been unhappy with any loads. |
| How much are you saving? Based on us using liquid Tide from Sam’s Club, I estimate that I spent 8 cents per load (I use half as much as the bottle recommends). Using my homemade soap I will spend half a cent per load. It takes less than 15 minutes to make. |
| Will I still need dryer sheets or fabric softener? I still use dryer sheets. |
| Where did you learn to make your own laundry soap? I saw several sets of directions on different websites and looked around for the most commonly used ingredients and instructions. Once I decided to try it, I took pictures along the way to share for people just learning like me. |
I tried this before, but I noticed it wasn’t very good at cutting out stains. Any suggestions?
I have been using the detergent for several months now. I have used just ivory soap, a combination of ivory soap and fels naptha, or just fels naptha. I love the price and so far don’t find any problems. I do notice that after the 24 hours there is gel on the top of the bucket and watery liquid on the bottom. So I mix it up then add it to my containers, I have to shake the container before adding it to the washer every time. Is the separation normal, or am I doing something wrong? I have also been told that you can add some softener directly to the bucket before putting in the containers. Has anyone every tried this?
re well water and stains:
If you are getting orange stains with well water, it is due to the combo of iron (not actually rust) in the water and chlorine in your detergent. With a high-iron water, you have to use all chlorine-free detergents. I learned this from my Gram after I first moved to the country and after i stopped using chlorine, I had no problem. Sometimes “yellow-out” will remove these stains, or at least help keeo your clothes from turning dingy while not being ableto us bleach.
My next country house, lime was a problem (and that is what makes the white crusty streak on your frig water dispenser). A water softener will often take care of this. Limeaway is a cleaning product (ie for toilets and showers etc) for to dissolve the lime, and I have used a small amount in a wash load with rags or old towels just to run the cleaner through the washer system.
If you’re water is that high in minerals, you might want to look at testing and considering a water softener and/or whole-house carbon filter. We had both on our 2nd house due to the high minerals (and then an R-O system for drinking to get rid of the sodium from softening!) HTH.
I make the dry powder and kind of altered the recipe. I use 2 bars of Fels-Naptha soap (99 cents each at our Food City), one box washing soda, and one large box of borax. It works great and even softens are water (which is filtered but can leave oily stains at times). I have also used vinegar in the rinse to soften my clothes and remove residue. It doesn’t leave a vinegar scent and does brighten colors and whites. I do still use clorox, though.
Thanks for sharing this recipe! I have a question though. My Walmart carries 2 sizes of the Ivory soap. Do you use the smaller or bigger bar? Do you have an ounce size that I can look for? Thanks so much!!
I use the smaller bar. They often come in large packages- say 12 in a pack.
I still use a stain stick for really tough stains- I use a mainstream name brand, but any would probably do.
I use the LIQUID laundry soap in the dishwasher and it works just fine. I agree that the powder doesn’t work as well. Also, I have noticed that when I use the Fels-Naptha, the finished product is less runny.
God Bless,
Trudy.
I’ve been shaving with a hand cheese grater one bar of soap like Zest Ocean Scent into a soap-only cookpot with water to melt. To it I add a cup of baking soda and a cup of Borax 20 Mule Team while it cools. I live really remote and nobody here has washing soda, washing powder, or Fels Naptha. Anyway I fill a 5-gallon bucket with this concoction plus water, and to one load of laundry I add a little more than a cup. It cleans the wash just fine.
Malia….thank you so much for sharing this! I’ve been wanting to make my own detergent for quite some time.
We’ll be giving this try! My girls will love to help out, and create something new! 🙂
I have a quick question. We are a militay family and my husbands ACU’s (uniforms) state that they cannot be laundered with a detergent that has optical brightners because it comprimises the pattern of the fabric. Since this is a “all natural” detergent I am assuming it would not have the optical enhancing quality of say Tide or other store detergents but has the properties more of the “Free and Clear” detergents. Since I don’t have a box of Borax or Washing Soda I can’t read them to make this judgement call myself. Do you ladies have any knowledge in that area?
Thanks for any help.
I am going to try this in the next few days. I have been wanting to try this recipe for quite some time now. I will say that if anybody uses cloth diapers (pockets, fitteds, AIO’s, etc.) this laundry soap may cause an issue w/wicking, leaking, repelling, etc, because the soap (instead of detergent) tends to leave a residue, which can cause the above mentioned issues. If you only use prefolds and/or flats, it may not be as much of an issue though.
I normally hang out our clothes, so in that case I use no fabric softener. However I have been adding about 1/2 c of vinagar to the rinse water in my wash, ( as a fabric softener) and IF I use the dryer i use some dryer balls I made from wool yarn. They really work well for the static and I enjoy the fact that my laundry does not smell perfumy.
another re-use for the used dryer sheet after they have been used saver them and when you have a very stick or caked/ baked on item on a pan soak it with a used dryer sheet in it and wipe it clean! learned this from a very old wise woman — tried it the first time on a pan that had rice krispies in it and no scrubbing needed! loved it also works great on the lazana pan (just a few ideas)
Okay, I just finished making a batch. I need to let it sit 24 hours but I’m concerned because there are lots of white globs of foamy stuff floating at the top. Did I do something wrong? I followed the directions perfectly and I think I started noticing them when I started adding all of the cold water to the hot liquid. Any suggestions?
This is fine. This is the gel that will make the detergent more thick. When it is finished, it will be a watery gel consistency. Much of the gel will settle on top, so I just give it a little shake each time I use it, or if you have it in a bucket, a quick stir each time you measure some will mix it for you.
Thank you. After waiting for 24 hours the gel looks pretty good. I was thrilled until I got to the bottom of the bucket at which point I noticed about 1 inch of really solid white stuff. It wasn’t hard breakable solid but a flexiible rubbery solid. That made me nervous that all the cleaning agent was sitting at the bottom. I went ahead a saved this in a separate container. See, I made the batch in a huge pot and then after 24 hours filled up several detergent bottles for easy use and storage. But, with this last final bit of solid stuff I saved it in a 32oz yogurt container because I figured it had all the cleaning stuff in it so I try to add a tablespoon or so every wash. Do I need to keep doing this? Or is the watery gel stuff that I poured into the containers fine by itself. The water Gel stuff was not liquidy at all….much hard to pour into and out of a container than store bought detergent. Is this right? LASTLY, I read something about the homemade detergent not being good with city water. We are in a suburb of a city and our water does have chlorine in it….a fairly good amount unfortunately. Should I not use this new homemade detergent that I’m so excited about because we have chlorine in our water? THANK YOU so much for walking me through this.
Jodi
It just soidified more, I would just add it to the bottles as you have room in them (as you use it up). Give it a little shake and do not worry about it. I also live in the city and use regular chloronated city water. This does not seem to pose any problem with my laundry detergent working just fine.
I just made this and after sitting for the 24 hours the top was solid and the bottom watery. Is it supposed to be this way? If so am I supposed to use the solid or the liquid part?
You should mix them together and use it as a mix. It should be the consistency of a watery gel.
I was wondering if a cup of laundry detergent could be used instead of melting the bar of soap? A few cups left in the jug I was going to use maybe?
I doubt it would be the same. They really are not made from the same ingredients.
where can you purchase shout sticks? i’ve just used up my last one – last available years and years ago! i bought, like six when they had the closeout sale! please tell me they are still being made!
Thank you so much for your detergent recipe. I have been using it for a few months and really love it. I am about to try adding some essential oils to help eliminate the odor from my sons’ sports uniforms, etc. How much of the oil should I add for a 2-gallon batch? And any recommendations for a fragrance? Is lavender the most like commercial laundry detergents? Thanks!
Can I use baby soap instead of bar soap.
I am really not sure how the consistency will come out. Perhaps you can try a very small batch and see what happens, so you do not waste a lot of ingredients.
Been using the same box of ingredients for dry wash that I bought 3 years ago. Total cost $26. Manufacturers have stopped using TSP in their products. If you have bad stains buy a box and add a spoonful to the wash. The result -very clean clothes.
I uae fels naptha dar soap and it smells great.. I have been doing this for about 6 months and it is great. My son and husband both work on cars and outside alot. It even takes the bad smells out.
My mother had a waring blender c. 1940 and it had directions for making soap. Makes sense now but at the time I read it I thought it was off the wall.