Homemade Laundry Detergent {Recipe}

I find it only appropriate, that after I've spent the last few days cleaning up after the big effect from a small virus, I post the recipe of our homemade laundry detergent.

My friend Emily brought the possibility of this to my attention. Then with Pinterest's visuals pairing nicely with my preference for homemade, love of all things natural nature, and DIY drive, I compiled a few different recipes, from a few different sites, and came up with the approach below...

{Baking soda is for a soften I haven't tried yet}

-1 bar of natural soap {I used Gradma's Pure & Natural}

-1 cup borax

-1 cup Arm & Hammer {which I always pronounce, 'Amorhammer' even though I know better} Super Wash Soap {NOT baking soda}

-4-5 Gallons of water

-2 oz (+or-) essential oils

First off, we used my food processor to shave down the bar of soap



Then, we melted the soap into 8 cups of water.



We poured in 1 cup of washing soda, whisking until it was all dissolved.



Added the cup of borax. Whisked until the borax was dissolved into the liquid and it was a creamy consistency {make sure you watch so it doesn't boil over, the suds can work up quickly}




Then we transferred the hot liquid into this nifty little spouted 5 gallon bucket, my hardware man husband conjured up for me and filled the rest of the bucket with about 4 more gallons of hot water right from the tap. I continued to whisk it all together while I added the hot water via faucet spray hose.

I don't know if this was necessary, but it gave my arms one hell of a workout.

Then I added a little under 2oz of essential oil once the water cooled a bit… lavender was the choice this time around… I would suggest using your best judgement on the oil… I didn't want it too strong, but still fresh… this is was -2 oz gave me…



The detergent thickened over the course of the first few days, I had to give it some good stirs to get the gelled bits reincorporated… {I can see how distributing it between some old juice bottles or reusing old detergent containers would be useful}… but now I just turn my spick and the consistency is fine.



I use the same amount as I would with the other, it works great, it was easy to make, and much cheaper.

I'm sure it will last us quite awhile… unless this nasty little bug doesn't find it's way out of our house soon, then we will be going through it rather quickly…