Powdered Laundry Detergent Recipe
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Jump to RecipeI like clean laundry.
I guess that is kind of obvious, me being a homemaker and all.
But clean fresh smelling laundry is glorious.
Now, I don’t always enjoy the cleaning of it or especially the folding, because sometimes I can be the queen of procrastination.
Ok, not just sometimes, most of the time.
We can’t all be perfect.
But I do enjoy when you make a homemade laundry detergent and it actually works well. When the clothes come out smelling nice and looking spotless. It is very nice. Very nice indeed.
I’ve tried a lot of different recipes and even bought those expensive “green” detergents, and they, in one word….sucked.
That’s all, they just sucked.
Not only are a lot of so called “green” or healthy detergents not actually as healthy as they claim, but who really wants to spend $15 on laundry detergent? I mean c’mon. I’d rather buy a bag of coffee beans and just sit around with a bunch of dirty laundry.
Not really, but kinda.
Why homemade?
Well, besides being a DIY junkie…I have several reasons for choosing this option for my family’s laundry.
It is easy
If you are on a journey to reduce toxins and chemicals in your home, then this is actually a great place to start.
It takes me like 10 minutes to whip up a batch of this and I make a gallon at a time. Then I only use 2 tablespoons per load, so that’ll last me a while.
All the ingredients in this are very easily accessible to most people and also very affordable.
It is affordable
Especially if you are someone who is already more health-conscious, and you may have been buying the expensive “green” detergents, then man, will this save you soooo much money.
This costs our family approximately $130 per year total. And we seriously do laundry every single day. At LEAST one load per day with the regular laundry plus cloth diapers for two children.
And from the research I’ve done, the average family is spending $180 to $600 on laundry a year. Even that lowest number is $50 more than we spend. Plus, that is even for detergents that are full of toxins. Plus, most of them aren’t having to use more detergent on cloth diapers.
That is awesome man!
More coffee beans for me. And that makes this mama happy.
It is healthier
Store-boughten detergents are full of fragrances, endocrine disruptors, neurotoxins and potent cancer-causing chemicals.
Which means, that your laundry room could be the most toxic room in your home once these chemicals become airborne while washing and drying your clothes. And that is exactly what we don’t want. The laundry room is supposed to be for cleaning and purifying, not to be making more toxic air for your family to breathe.
Clothing is pretty much always on your body so if you clean them with a detergent that is full of chemicals then that is what is sitting on your clothes and therefore your skin. And keep in mind that you skin is the largest organ in your body, so it soaks up whatever you put on it.
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Powdered Laundry Detergent Recipe
- 2 bars of soap, grated
- 2 parts borax
- 2 parts washing soda
- 20 drops of essential oil
Step one: grate up your bars of soap. I use my own homemade plain coconut oil soap bars, but you can also use castile soap bars. I love using the pure coconut oil soap because it doesn’t contain a lot of extra oils so it has a lot of cleaning power without getting the clothes greasy.
Step two: Now measure out how many cups of grated soap you have. I usually get about 3 cups from 2 bars of soap.
Step three: You want to add 2 parts of borax and washing soda for every 1 part of soap. So for 3 cups of grated soap, I add 6 cups of borax and 6 cups of washing soda.
Step four: Add in your essential oils. This is totally optional, but I definitely enjoy having essential oils in there and they help boost the cleaning power. Usually I’ll put 10 drops of each tea tree and lemon, because those are both good anti bacterial oils.
Step five: I measure everything out into a glass gallon jar, and then I start shaking it up to combine. And that is what I store it in anyway so it isn’t making more dishes for me to wash.
Washing instructions
When I’m ready to do a load of laundry, I fill the washer as usual, and add 2 tablespoons of the laundry detergent.
I recommend not using any more than that so that you don’t get any build-up on your clothes.
And boom! Our clothes come out clean and smelling fresh!
Let’s talk about the ingredients
Borax
Borax neutralizes odors in the laundry, as well as getting rid of ammonia in cloth diapers and such. It also inhibits any mold from growing in your washer. It helps brighten your white clothes, and helps soften hard water.
Washing soda
This is a natural cleaner that can neutralize and eliminate odors. It can also be used to soften water, brighten clothes, and remove stains.
Soap bars
This homemade soap works really well because it doesn’t contain lots of added oil for moisturizing purposes. It’s easy to make, only has three ingredients, and has fabulous cleaning power.
Want to make some more natural cleaning products?
- How to make laundry soap with horse chestnuts
- Homemade cleaning products for a non-toxic home
- Clean with me – what it’s like cleaning in a remodel
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Powdered Laundry Detergent Recipe
Materials
- 1 bar grated soap
- 2 parts borax
- 2 parts washing soda
- 20 drops essential oil
Instructions
- Grate the soap.
- Measure it out.
- Add 2 parts of washing soda and 2 parts of borax for every 1 part of grated soap.
- Add essential oils (I usually add lemon and tea tree).
- Pour it in a glass gallon jar and shake it up to mix.
- Use 2 tbps per washer load.
Do you only use 2 TBSP of the detergent when washing diapers? I switched back to Kirkland detergent from one of the “natural” detergents because the clothes just didn’t come out smelling or looking very clean :/ I do want to go back to cloth diapering (my fifth kid just turned one in June, and I’ve found life too overwhelming to cloth diaper him much — I’m wanting to declutter the house to have less “stuff” taking up my time when I could be using that time on so many better things… like cloth diapering!).
Thanks!
Yes I only use 2 tablespoons for either cloth diaper or regular laundry.
How much is 2 parts?
It depends on how much you want to make. This recipe is written in parts so the measurements can be flexible to what you need. So you grate the 2 bars of soap, measure how many cups they make. Then add double that amount of the ingredients that say “2 parts”.
What kind of soap ? Store bought?
A basic soap bar. I use my homemade plain coconut oil soap bars. The castile soap bars you can buy off amazon are a good option https://amzn.to/3VRe7rY
Can this be used with cold water? We rarely use warm or hot water except for towels and bedding!
Yes, I’ve used it with cold water and it works great!