How To Make Your Own Laundry Soap

I don’t know about you, but have you noticed the price of laundry soap these days?  Whether it is in liquid or dry form (do they still make dry form?), you pay a pretty penny for what seems like 20 loads worth along with a whole lot of wasteful plastic packaging.

So late last year (around Christmas time), I came across a recipe for a home-made laundry soap and decided to give it a whirl.  I wanted to test drive the formula first before writing up a blog post and I must say that after 5 months of using the home-made stuff, I am hooked.

I will no longer go back to buying commercially made laundry detergents.  It cleans just as good as any commercial product for a fraction of the price and without the use of perfumes and chemicals.

Here is all you need and incidentally, all 3 are available in the detergent aisle of major grocery stores:

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4 Cups of Washing Soda (not Baking Soda, it is NOT the same thing)

4 Cups of Borax (powdered)

One Bar of Laundry Soap, grated (4 cups)

Directions:

Grate the laundry soap with a fine grater, you don’t want large chunks, think finely grated parmesan.  By the way, if you are like me, you’ll be tempted to ‘snack’ on the ‘cheese’ you are grating like I do when I normally grate cheese….trust me, DON’T…soap tastes like…well soap…

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The bar of soap I purchased grated to exactly 4 cups worth, and the recipe is equal parts of the 3 ingredients.

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Measure out all the ingredients into one large bowl and using a potato masher, combine the ingredients until thoroughly mixed.

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Once combined, transfer the laundry soap to a re-sealable container (I picked this 12-cup one up at the dollar store) and then just use an old 1 tablespoon scoop to dispense from.

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For a small to medium load, use one scoop, for larger loads or those that are heavily soiled, use 2 scoops.

Now I have just made my second batch of detergent since the beginning of the year, and we do about 4 loads of laundry a week, so 12 cups of detergent lasted me about 18 weeks… that is 72 loads of laundry!

So here is the cost of individual ingredients:

Linda Laundry Soap ~ $1.99

Arm & Hammer Washing Soda ~ $6.49 for a 3 kg box.  I only used about a 1/3rd of a box per batch, about $2.16)

Borax ~ $5.49 for a 2 Kg box.  I used less than half a box, about $2.75

$1.99 + $2.16 + $2.75 = $6.90 per batch OR 0.09¢ PER LOAD

So how this that for saving money?  Works for me!

Note:  This detergent is very low in suds, so it is safe to use in frontload HE machines.

 

 

8 thoughts on “How To Make Your Own Laundry Soap

  1. hi, just found your site, as i was looking thru friends lists for friends of friends… anyways… I have pretty much this same recipe for laundry soap, only it’s made into a condensed liquid. It works much better here in our water as we have extremely hard water, and when I’ve used washing soda or borax in the past in my machine, it doesnt break up. Anyways, you are right, it is a very good soap, and I liked the results. My problem is that i missed the suds, if you can believe that. How brainwashed are we, eh?

    cheers, and tarrah for now
    ~loraine

    ps, i didnt notice where you are from, maybe if i check your home page? anyways, I’m originally from around north of Archerwill, Sask, but my home has been here in the Sunny Okanagan for the last 25 yrs now.

    • Hi loraine ~ thanks for your message. LOVE the soap! and strangely, I do find it odd that I miss the bubbles too 🙂 I have not tried to make it into a liquid, I may have to give it a go next time I make a batch. I live in Southern Ontario, but spend a good portion of my time at our cottage (pictured on main page) in Northern Ontario. If you go to the About Me page, it tells everything about me! LOL Thanks for finding my blog, I hope you find it interesting, I encourage you to poke around, lots of good stuff on it already and more to come! Funny you mention Archerwill, SK.. I know someone else from that neck of the woods! Small world! Okanagan Valley is a beautiful place, you are a lucky girl! 🙂 Thanks again for your note and come back often! Deborah

    • The soap is actually PREFERRED by HE machines as they are LOW to NO suds! I have been using this stuff since January and have noticed no difference in cleanliness of clothes, more imortantly, the Borax helps eliminate odours.

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