Homemade Laundry Detergent Recipe

Two friends on mine make their own laundry detergent. I had never really given it much thought until I stopped by for a chat with my friend T on her laundry day. Her house smelled so yummy! My friend Shell {my blogging name for her} also uses the same recipe and says it is much more cost efficient- and considering she does laundry for her large family, I'd say she knows a thing or two about saving money on the laundry front.

So, I decided to give it a try. I heart our new powder- it smells so good, cleans great, and is easy on my checkbook {versus buying Gain}. Jackpot! I found a simple glass canister as storage which I love because it's so pretty and doubles as a decorative piece.

Homemade Powdered Laundry Detergent

• 1 cup grated Fels Naptha Soap {I used the pink Zote brand- either is fine}. 
• 1/2 cup washing soda
• 1/2 cup 20 mule team Borax 
• Oxyclean {optional}

Here's what I did:

1. I grated 2 Zote soap bars using the rough side of a cheese grater. Place in seperate bowl.
2. Then, I started mixing. The recipe calls for 1/2 cups but I used more. So, I would mix 1 cup of washing soda, 1 cup of Borax, about 1/2 cup of oxyclean, and one cup of Zote soap. 
3. Since I have an HE washing machine, I needed my Zote soap to be as fine as possible. So, once I mixed my ingredients, I would put it in my chopper {my friends used food processors} and get it as fine as possible. The reason I did it after mixing was because when I tried chopping it finely solo, the Zote soap just globbed up. It worked better for me after I mixed the soap with the other powders then finely chopped it.
4. Pour mixture into container. Then, repeat steps 2-3 until you've used all your ingredients.  
5. When washing, use only 1 tablespoon of powder per load. I saved the blue scoop from the oxyclean container and use it :) 

After using all my ingredients, I was able to fill my gallon sized glass container, plus I have about 1/3 of a gallon left that I stored in a Ziplock back. So, it does make quite a bit of detergent. And since you don't need more than 1 tablespoon per load, I can see how it will last longer.

Be warned- it makes quite the mess and takes a little time to do. I've seen other recipes on Pinterest as well- I used this particular one because it was friend tested and approved.

Here's to all things Homemade!