My Go To Homemade Laundry Detergent

A while ago when my family was struggling financially, I was using cloth diapers for our little guy.  Since you can't use regular laundry detergent on cloth diapers and buying special detergent wasn't an option, I began looking for a homemade detergent.  I began with one that I just used on the cloth diapers, so I was making a special detergent for the diapers and then buying one to use on the rest of our clothes.  A friend of mine gave me a recipe to use that was safe and good to use on everything.  I used that one for the entire length of time we cloth diapered.  Then when we were done using cloth diapers I began to look for another homemade detergent that I could use because I wasn't thrilled with having to buy detergent again.  After an intensive internet search, and a few that failed, I found one that I have been using for the past 2 and a half years.

The best thing about this detergent is that it makes a huge batch!  I can usually get about 6-8 months out of one batch.  This is a powdered detergent, I originally was hoping for a liquid one but found that this powder really does a great job and is a little bit easier to mix up and store.

I originally found this recipe at One Good Thing By Jillee.  She titles it A Year's Worth of Laundry Detergent for $30, but like I said for my family of 5 we can get about 6-8 months out of it.  On her sight she breaks down the cost of each item, and I'd say that I spend about that much depending on the prices of things at the time.  I also want to mention that all of these items can be found right in the laundry isle!


Here is what you will need for this recipe:

**I forgot to add the Baking Soda when I took this picture**

3 Bars Fels Naptha soap
1 Box 20 Mule Team Borax
1 Box Super Washing Soda
2 Cups Baking Soda
2 Containers Sun Oxygen Cleaner
1-2 Containers Purex fabirc softener chrystals (28 oz) **Optional**
5 Gallon Bucket with Lid to store it in






Cut up the fels naptha soap into cubes and put in food processor, add a little bit of the Sun Oxygen cleaner to help it all come together.  I did this in three batches, each bar separately because my food processor is small, but if you have a large one you could do it all in one batch.

Once they are processed I place it in a big bowl until I am ready for it.

Then mix all other ingredients together in the 5 gallon bucket.

This is before mixing the first half of the batch.

Don't forget to enlist the help of the kiddos!  They love this part!

This is the finished batch in the 5 gallon bucket.

Use 2 TBS per load, I use the scoop that comes with the Sun Oxygen Cleaner and make sure its a heaping scoop if you have a top loader.  For an HE machine just use 1 TBS per load.  This is a low sudsing detergent, so don't worry if you don't see any bubbles while its washing, I promise its doing the job!

I put some in a pretty jar on top of the dryer to use.  

Here is the heaping scoop I use, one heaping scoop per load.

Here are a few tips I have when making this detergent:

If you read her recipe, she suggests putting it all into a garbage bag and mixing it that way.  When I did that I got holes in the bag and it started spilling out onto the floor, even when I double bagged it that still happened.  So my suggestion is to put half the ingredients (a little bit of each item) into the bucket and then mix well.  Then add the remaining ingredients and mix well, making sure to get everything stirred up. ** I just noticed that she put up a video tutorial and when she mixed it in the bag it worked great for her!  So maybe it was just me!  

Don't forget to add the sun oxygen cleaner to the fels naptha soap when processing it!!  It will get gunky and not blend well!  Not that I know this from experience or anything!  *wink*

Make sure you store this in an air tight container to avoid it getting clumpy and hard to use.

There you have it!  Our cheap, amazing and super easy to make homemade laundry detergent!!  Feel free to send me any questions you might have!