Turns out laundry detergent is super easy and cheap to make!

Homemade Laundry Detergent Recipe…

Ingredients:

- Baking soda

- Borax (it sounds like a mega strong chemical but it’s not)

- Hard soap (Fels Naptha or Dove. I found the Fels Naptha in my local non-fancy grocery store in the laundry aisle)

Steps:

- Use a serrated knife to grate the soap (or a cheese grater if you’re up for cleaning it really good later on)

- Combine 1 cup of soap flakes, 1/2 cup of Borax, and 1/2 a cup of baking soda in a plastic re-sealable baggie (freezer size is ideal)

- Seal the baggie and shake the ingredients together

- Use 2 TBSP of the mixture per load

Tips:

- Let the detergent dissolve in the hot washer water before adding the clothing. To save energy switch the water back to cold after the detergent is dissolved

- Use an old laundry detergent bottle cap as your scoop and leave in the detergent baggie so it’s super handy when you need it

- Be sure to super clean any kitchen tools you use to make the laundry detergent (I failed to do this and ended up with a semi-soapy meal. Oops!). Even better? Dedicate an old kitchen knife or garage sale cheese grater to be used specifically for laundry detergent making

- This is a super simple recipe and the grating part is the most time-consuming step. I make a double-batch of the laundry detergent to make the most of my time.

Printable PDF of the Homemade Laundry Detergent Recipe

This homemade laundry detergent really works! Have you tried making your own detergent before? Think you’ll give it a go?

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