16 Feb How To Make Your Own All-Natural Laundry Detergent

A few months ago, in an effort to make our home a little safer and environmentally friendly, I wanted to start making my own laundry soap.  So I did some research, namely Pinterest, some bloggers and some DIY books.  Not so surprisingly, everyone announced that their recipe was the best.  I could find no agreement as to whether liquid or powdered was better…  it was all very confusing for a beginner such as myself.  I finally settled on a powdered recipe that seemed to be repeated multiple times throughout the blogosphere, and because it seemed to be one of the most simple recipes.  There were only three simple ingredients, and the cost savings was too big to ignore! 

Powdered Laundry Detergent

• 1 cup of Borax
• 1 cup Super Washing Baking Soda
• 1 bar of grated Castile Soap (I recommend Dr. Bonner’s bar soap.)

Anything containing Thieves Household Cleaner gets my attention!

I tripled the recipe and used it for several months.  After about two weeks, however, I was already having an issue.  My whites were not getting nearly white enough.  I added some ingredients and tweaked the recipe without results.  So I began the process of researching other whitening methods, when I came across a video by Melissa Poepping.  The video contained her recipe for a toxin-free, ALL NATURAL liquid laundry detergent!

I was PUMPED to try it, because it contains Thieves Household Cleaner, which I had started using several months ago.  This concentrated cleaner literally replaced every single cleaner in my home.  I love it and have tremendous confidence in it as a cleaner!  It’s natural, non-toxic, chemical-free and super effective!

The full recipe is in the video.

Since it’s not my recipe, I’m going to share the video. All of the information is in the video, including some great tips on other ways to use this detergent.

This took a little more effort than the dry version, but it was still simple and cost-effective without a doubt.  Plus, I’m over the initial intimidation that comes with making your own detergent – it’s really simple, guys, and SO worth it!

As mentioned in the recipe, I had bought Dr. Bronner’s Castile Bar Soap.  I love that stuff.  It’s so mild and gentle, yet it works fabulously.  I chopped it up, instead of grating.  I had to grate the soap when making the dry version and it was quite time consuming.  It took about 5 minutes to completely melt on the stove top.  The rest of the recipe is simply adding the ingredients mentioned in the video.

This makes 5 gallons of laundry soap!

I let it sit overnight as suggested.  Since I do not have an immersion blender, I mixed it with a very long wooden spoon and the result is TONS AND TONS AND TONS of liquid laundry soap!  I transferred some of it into a much smaller container (this recipe literally fills a 5 gallon pail!), that will be much more manageable in my laundry room.  Is it pathetic that I’m so excited about this?

What is your experience with homemade laundry detergent?