My homemade laundry detergent

I did it! I finally did it. I ran out of laundry detergent, and instead of racing to Costco to buy a super huge container of detergent, I ran to King Soopers and searched for products I'd never heard of.


Total cost of supplies: $13


And those supplies can get me at least another 10 batches of this stuff. Only ingredient I'd have to purchase more of is the Fels-Naptha soap. But when 2 gallons only requires half a bar, and a bar runs at about $2, I'd say it's worth it.


I used the recipe I posted on an earlier blog: Frugal and Fantastic Laundry Detergent so I'll just walk through my experience and post some tips on this post.

Fels-Naptha Soap- only use half a bar per batch.

I decided to chop up my soap instead of grating it. I loath grating. And this stuff easily flakes apart.

Here's the tip- this stuff does NOT like to dissolve. So soak it in your pot of water for one hour before turning on the burner and boiling it to dissolve all of the way.

Boil it, dissolve it. This is what made my house smell like it had just gotten a bath.

Rest of the ingredients to be added.

Only one cup of each.

Another tip: Buy a gallon jug of water. The recipe gives directions according to gallons of water, and I wouldn't have been able to know the correct amount unless I had purchased a gallon size jug, especially since it'll tell you to add ____ cups of water, then next instruct you to add "the rest." Annoying if you aren't using a gallon size jug.

I dumped it in a new trash can that I had just put in our guest bathroom. Only thing I had big enough to hold it all. Covered it with wax paper, and woke up the next morning gel like detergent. My husband described the texture of it as "brains." Not sure if that at all gives you a good idea...

I store mine in an old laundry detergent jug and the water jug I was using to measure the water. 1/2 cup per load!

Of course the real question is- does it WORK? (Yes, I took a photo of me smelling my towels)... it does work, and very well. Only issues I have with it is that it doesn't seem to bubble in the washing machine, so I always want to add more. This is just something my simple mind needs to get over. That, and my clothes don't smell really clean. Now, they don't smell dirty! They just also don't smell like detergent, which is difficult to get used to. I might add some essential oils next time just to make me feel better.

Well, there you have it! It was fun- and you should most definitely give it a try. Let me know how your experience goes.