Earth-Friendly Homemade Laundry Soap Recipes

I have wanted to try homemade laundry soap for years. Tracking down those hard to find ingredients is one reason I haven't. It also involves grating my own soap. I rarely ever grate cheese.

6 Staples of Green Cleaning

Baking Soda

White Vinegar

Borax

Lemon Juice

Washing Soda

Castile Soap

That was before little red bumps appeared on my son's leg. The rash led me take a second look at the ingredients: cleaning agents.

What does that even mean? I know it has agents in it that are supposed to clean. What are they? I tried to investigate further, but had little success.

I'm now experimenting with small batches of homemade laundry soap. The ingredients weren't that hard to find, but it does take some patience to perfect your recipe.

A Few Tips Before You Get Started:

1. Washing Soda and Baking Soda are DIFFERENT ingredients. Both are found in the laundry aisle.
2. If you can't find an ingredient in your local supermarket, check online.
3. Be willing to adjust ingredients in the recipes, especially if you have well or hard water.
4. If you are skeptical, scale down the recipe until you find one you prefer. Later, you can make larger quantities.

Liquid Homemade Laundry Soap

2 tablespoons baking soda

1 bar of Dr. Bronner's Castile soap (see substitution options below*)

1 cup Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda

1/2 cup Borax

hot water

5 gallon bucket

cheese grater

Place grated soap in a simmering pan. (I used an old cheese grater, but a food processor will probably work. I was worried it may leave a soap residue, so I took the manual route.)

Cover with water and melt over medium heat. Stir continually until soap is melted.

Pour soap into a 5 gallon bucket. Add washing soda and Borax. Fill rest of bucket with hot water.

Stir with a paint stick or large spoon. Let it sit overnight to gel.

*Fels-Naptha or Ivory bar soap are often used in similar recipes. They contain mild fragrances, but you may have better luck finding them in stores. Fels-Naptha will be in the laundry aisle near the Borax.

Powdered Homemade Laundry Detergent

1 bar of Dr. Bronner's Castile soap
(see substitution options above*)

2 cups Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda

2 cups Borax

Grate soap. Mix all ingredients. Use 1/4 cup per full load of laundry.

Both of these recipes work great, but don't expect them to produce suds. I'm not used to powder detergents, but I think it works just as well as the liquid. It's definitely easier to make and store!

For an inexpensive fabric softener, try vinegar! Just add 1/2 -1 cup to your rinse cycle.