Homemade Laundry Detergent!

Homemade Laundry Detergent

Have heard of people making this for years, but always figured it would use ingredients that were too difficult to find, or that it would be hard to make. I tried it for the first time, and it is great!

Here’s what you do: (This if from the Duggars recipe)

1 bar non-scented soap (I used a bar of Ivory) Cost: FREE with coupons
1 cup washing soda (Make sure you get the kind that says washing soda. I found it in the laundry aisle at the local Wal-Mart). Cost: 2.98
½ cup Borax (I found this in laundry aisle at Wal-Mart, also.) Cost: 3.24 

Now, to get started!
1. Grate the soap bar into a small saucepan and cover with hot water. Cook over Medium-low heat, stirring continually, until the soap completely dissolves. 

2. Put the washing soda and the borax into a 5-gallon bucket. (Make sure your bucket is clean first!) Pour in the hot, melted soap mixture. Stir well, until all the powder is dissolved. 

3. Fill the bucket to the top with more hot tap water. Stir, cover securely, and let sit overnight.Yes, I stirred it with that swiffer handle!

4. The next morning, stir the mixture.

5. Mix equal amounts of soap concentrate and water in a smaller laundry detergent dispenser or container. I used the small red cup to dip it out and then used the old Wisk detergent container to put my new detergent into. 

6. Shake before using!

For front load machines, just ¼ to 1/3 cup per load.
For top loading machines, use 1 cup of the soap mixture per load.

Here's the exciting part...
I spent $6.22 on the two ingredients I bought. I now have enough laundry soap to do roughly 640 loads. If you take $6.22 and divide it by 640 it shows you that the cost per load of laundry is .009 cent a load! That means it's not quite a penny a load, and I still have LOTS of washing soda and borax left over to make more. I'd estimate I have enough to make at least 4 more batches!

Ever found a detergent before that cost less than a penny a load?! For a quick comparison, if I purchase Tide with Bleach Alternative on sale, it costs $.20 cents a load!

How does this detergent compare in stain fighting? I have done a little research, and in the four experiments I found involving it, it did as well if not better than the professional detergent.

I plan to wash my first load of clothes with it tomorrow. I'll let you know how it goes! In the mean time, I have A TON of laundry detergent sitting in my 5 gallon bucket. Anyone around here locally want to try some??