by Nicole Wines
Homemade laundry detergent is simple and quick to make. D.I.Y. laundry detergent uses the same basic ingredients as any of the eco-friendly and all-natural detergent powders that you can buy in health food stores and some grocery stores, but costs significantly less per load to make yourself.
Ingredients & Supplies
- Washing Soda (if you don’t have any or can’t find any to buy, you can make your own out of baking soda)
- Borax detergent booster
- 1 bar of all-natural, fragrance-free soap (4-4.5 oz.)
- Supplies: hand grater, measuring cup, mixing bowl & mixing spoon, airtight jar for storage
Supplies for Homemade Laundry Detergent
Most of the ingredients can usually be found in the laundry aisle of the grocery store. You can often find laundry soap there as well, but I chose to use a bar of coconut oil based fragrance-free castille soap that I found in a local health food store.
Directions
1. “Shave” or grate the soap finely.
Grated castille soap.
2. Measure 1 cup of borax and 1 cup of washing soda. Add to mixing bowl with grated soap.
DIY Powdered Laundry Detergent Ingredients – Shaved soap, borax and washing soda
3. Mix ingredients well, stirring for about 5 minutes.
Mix ingredients until well blended. Some people mix further at highest setting in a food processor or high powdered blender for a finer powder for cold water use.
4. Store in a jar or other airtight container
Finished DIY Laundry Detergent
I use 1-2 TBSP of this per laundry load. It is low suds, so it works well in HE washers and dissolves well, so leaves no residue on clothes. Happy washing!