I have to say, there aren't near as many "recipes" for DIY laundry detergent as there are for other things, like facial scrubs, shampoo and yes, my favorite, lip balm! But the ones I did find were pretty basic, inexpensive, and chock full of stuff that I normally use in my wash anyway, so I figured, what the hell, let's do this.
I headed to my local Wally World with my ingredient list in hand. I practically ran to the laundry aisle, partly from the crazy excitement that inevitably possesses me when I have a new project on hand, and partly because I just love the smell of the laundry detergent aisle in pretty much any store, but especially at Wally World. I tossed the Borax, baking soda, super washing soda and softening crystals into my cart and scanned the aisle shelves for the laundry bar soap. My recipe, which I found via Pinterest over on How Does She's blog, called for Zote soap, but I'm big into scents, especially when it comes to my laundry detergent, so I wanted to smell the Zote and any other bar soap they had. I smelled the Zote soap, and it was okay - clean, fresh, light. There was the added bonus that they had a white version, (their original version being pink) and, even better, they had a box of the stuff that was already pre-chipped, sliced, slivered! That meant no grating. It also meant a slightly higher investment in your detergent and since I was wanted to see the least expensive way of accomplishing my task, I opted to skip on the pre-grated stuff.
Curious to smell some other soaps, I looked around for other options. My eyes finally landed on something called Fels-Naptha, which while I'd never heard of it, it had been listed as an alternative to Zote in several of the DIY formulas I'd researched. Some of the other choices for laundry bar soap were Dr. Bronner's and Kirk's Original Coco Castile, though I think these are more body soaps than they are laundry, and I was unable to find them at my local Wally World (but you can bet your butt I will be ordering Dr. Bronner's Eucalyptus for my upcoming DIY Body Wash adventure!)
With only the Fels-Naptha as an alternative to Zote, I grabbed a bar, held it up to my nose and inhaled deeply. WOW! My eyes flew wide open. This stuff was everything I wanted my clothes to smell like. Super clean, fresh, soapy and just a hint of perfume, but not overly feminine nor masculine. I was hooked. I put the bar in my cart, and added two more. The recipe only required two bars but I figured one more bar would help boost the scent, the washing power and certainly couldn't hurt.
With all my ingredients accounted for I beelined for the hardware section to get a five gallon pail with a lid. Found one easily enough for about $4. A bargain as the bucket and lid were very sturdy and absolutely perfect for my little experiment.
Ready to get the party started, I checked out, telling the cashier about my detergent making adventure while she scanned my goodies. She seemed interested but I suspect was really just being polite. I then drove home, unloaded my bounty and set everything up on the counter.
The players:
1 (4lb 12oz) box of Borax, found in the detergent aisle
1 (3lb 7oz) box of Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda, found in the detergent aisle
1 (3lb) tub of OxyClean, found in the detergent aisle. This item is optional but I've used with my regular detergent and it's an awesome booster.
2 (14.1 oz) bars of Fels-Naptha (or whatever laundry soap you prefer). Also found in the detergent aisle.
1 (4lb) box of Arm & Hammer Baking Soda. I suppose you might find this in the baking aisle, though mine was in the detergent aisle, right next to the Super Washing Soda.
And last but not least, 1 or 2 (depending on how soft and scented you want your laundry!) (55 oz) bottle(s) of Purex Crytals Fabric Softener, found in the detergent aisle. I got Lavendar Blossom for mine. Smells dreamy.
1 (5 gal) pail with a lid
1 long wooden spoon
Scene 1:
Grate your bar soap. I suggest using a good sized bowl to grate your soap into; a single bar yields a substantial amount of shavings. You can use a food processor or do it manually using a cheese grater. If you use a food processor, do one bar at a time, emptying the container between bars. My first go round, I used the larger grate but with the second bar of soap I went finer. I wound up with a 50/50 mix of thicker to fine soap shavings. I recommend going as fine as you can on the grate because the finer the shavings, the easier it will dissolve in your wash. And don't worry about the soap residue on your grater or food processing disc. This stuff isn't like wax as it dissolves very easily even in cold water, making clean up a snap.
Scene 2:
Dump your grated soap into your 5 gallon bucket.
Dump in the Borax; give it a stir with your wooden spoon.
Dump in the baking soda; stir it up
Dump in the super washing soda; stir some more
Take a break. Inhale deeply. SMILE.
Dump in your Purex fabric softening crystals; grab that wooden spoon, tap out a little tune on the side of the bucket, then stir
Dump in your Oxyclean and stir, stir, STIR
I stirred 'til I didn't feel like stirring anymore. Then I popped the lid onto the bucket, made sure it was on there nice and tight, then tipped the bucket on it's side and started rolling it around the kitchen floor. No kidding. Way easier than stirring. Plus, all that super fine, yummy smelling powder was in the air from my having poured it into the bucket and was starting to give me a tiny headache (it smelled really good but it was also really strong!) so I was trying to minimize getting more of it into the air. This definitely did the trick. After about 3 minutes of mixing my detergent, I got the bucket right side up again, peeled off the lid and looked down at my awesome smelling detergent. I was thrilled! I then scooped about 2 gallons worth into a cute glass container I'd picked up at the store, tossed in my tablespoon sized scoop, capped it with the lid and triumphantly carried it to my laundry room. Not known for my patience, I ran into the bedroom, grabbed a bunch of denim out of the hamper and threw it in our HE (high efficiency) washer with 2 scoops of my newly made detergent (2 tablespoons of detergent is all you need for a load). Immediately the smell of clean started filling the air. Guess I'd soon find out how well this stuff works.
Some things I learned while researching my DIY detergent formula:
- This is definitely HE washing machine safe
- This detergent is not very sudsy; if you are expecting sudsy, you will be disappointed. Please do not let that be a deterrent Suds does not necessarily mean clean. Suds merely means sulfides. A lack of sulfides is a more natural product, easier on your skin and clothes, and definitely easier on your washing machine
- I spent $28.16 for the detergent ingredients. I made enough detergent to do approximately 640 loads of laundry. That's five cents (yes, you read that right) per load of laundry, and 1.75 loads of laundry per day. For a year. It's okay, you can re-read that last sentence. Go ahead, I'll wait for ya'.
I had a blast making this and am excited to see how this stuff performs over the next few weeks. I will definitely do a follow up post after a few uses of the detergent. If you decide to try this for yourself but can't wait for my review, you can hit me up here or on my Facebook page, and I'll be happy to try and answer any questions you may have.
Final scene:
My washer just dinged. Clothes are done. Took a minute from writing this blog to get the jeans into the dryer. They smelled great coming out of the washer and upon inspection, appeared to be squeaky clean. First impression? This stuff is awesome, and for five cents a load? I'm hooked.
Here's to doing it yourself and doing it cheaper AND better!
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