Who Knew? Homemade Laundry Soap

As I burrow down ever deeper into the homesteading lifestyle, I keep reading about people who make their own cleaning supplies that are cheaper, greener than most store-bought cleaners and detergents, and generally work just as well. I was running out of laundry soap and decided that now would be a good time to give it a whirl.

I went looking around on the sites I regularly check and refer to. After looking at a few different laundry detergent recipes, I came to my trusty Backdoor Survival. I have spoken about this site in a previous post as being one that I have spent literal hours reading and taking notes from. They, of course, had something about DIY laundry detergent and I opted for using this one. Anyway, I decided to go for it and used the instructions she gave.

What You Need

3 T   Borax
3 T   Washing Soda
2 T   Liquid dish soap
8 C   Filtered water

You will also need a 1/2 gallon container. I reused an apple juice bottle.A funnel is also very helpful

Measure the borax and washing soda into the bottle you are using. Heat up 2 cups of water and pour into the mix. The original article says to boil the water but I was worried it would be too hot and go right through the bottle so I only brought the water to the point of bubbles being formed on the bottom of the pan. The water is heated to help the powders to dissolve fully. Once dissolved, add in the liquid soap and swish it around until everything is well mixed. You do not want to get too much suds built up in the bottle so be careful. You also do not want to squish the suds out! After it is mixed, add in the rest of the water which should just about fill your 1/2 gallon (2 quart) container. That is it! The original article says to use 1/4 to 1/2 cup per load in the author’s HE washer. We do not have an HE washer set up so I used 1/2 cup for my first test of the detergent.

“23 cents per half-gallon batch or less than 1 1/2 cents per load.”

The Results and Cost

Because we have to take our clothes downstairs to the coin op machines, we got very used to using the laundry tabs so we didn’t have to lug the monster size bottle up and down the stairs (the enormous bottles that do 96 loads). The half gallon container was no big deal though and when I went to pour the soap into the water, I noticed it had a really nice smell. Nothing overly chemical, or horribly strong. We do not use fabric softener. When I pulled the clothes out of the washer, the scent was again very nice and light. We normally use a dryer sheet but this time I skipped it because after cleanliness, the smell is most important. I am blown away!  These towels smell fantastic and are just as clean as before so far as I can tell. I have to admit I am a bit of a cynic and thought that this simple recipe could not possibly work as well as what I bought in the store. I made enough laundry soap for 16 loads in about 10 minutes and have enough supplies to make detergent for hundreds more! That in itself is a wonderful feeling~I can make my own laundry soap!

The costs were a little higher for me than what she paid in the article. I could not find borax very easily and I love the convenience of Amazon so I bought a package that included both the washing soda and borax, and free shipping with Prime. I already had a good supply of Dawn liquid soap from a sale last year. I would say at the most my costs were double hers. So instead of 1.5 cents per load, I pay $0.03 per load. The last time I went shopping for laundry soap I was breaking it down by cost per load and the best I was able to find (for a good brand anyway) was $0.15 per load, on sale at that! Even if my costs are doubled yet again, I am still saving money on something we all need to do. The value I personally find (other than the savings and new knowledge) is the ability to make SO MUCH from only one box of washing soda and borax and one bottle of liquid soap. I pulled out my calculator to try and noodle the answer. The Borax is 76 ounces, the washing soda 56 ounces, and the liquid soap is 38 ounces. I came up with 592 loads of laundry. For about $20 (at my higher prices). Almost 600 loads of laundry for $20? No matter how you look at it, that is saving money! I am hooked and don’t see myself looking back anytime soon!

UPDATE: As of March 2015, we still use this homemade laundry soap but have started using half again as much on the more heavily soiled laundry. We still love it!