Laundry Detergent

I had a lot of questions about my homemade laundry detergent on Facebook, so I thought I'd just write a blog post about it! :-)

First of all, my recipe: a while back, a friend of mine (Hi Beth!) shared the recipe that she uses from Modern Cottage.

1 bar of soap, grated

1 cup Borax

1 cup Washing Soda

1/4 cup Oxy-Clean

Mix it all together. Use one tablespoon for a light load, two tablespoons for a large or dirty load.

There you go, that's it! Pretty simple, right? I have been doubling the recipe. I bought some Ivory bar soap a while back thinking that I needed it for the detergent. So, to get rid of it, I've been using one bar of Ivory and one bar of Fels Naptha. I was recently told that if you stir this recipe for a while the shreds of soap will break down and it will turn completely into powder. I may try this next time, but Russell thinks it looks cool the way I make it now, so maybe not! Haha!

I have been using homemade laundry detergent for a few months now. We have been very happy with the way it smells - and more importantly, the way it cleans. So, I'd say we're converts! :-)

Russell and I are trying to live a more green life. We're doing what we can for our family and for the environment. The added benefit is more often than not, we save money in the long run by choosing the greener option! Making our laundry detergent fits right along with this.

• I haven't priced out the detergent exactly, but various websites estimate this detergent costs between 12 and 14 cents per load.


• I really just like know what goes into the products we use around the house. The Fels Naptha does have some fragrance in it, but at this time I am okay with it. Down the road, I may look into other options.


• Most of the commercial detergents have a lot of chemicals in them. When your clothes are rinsed clean, all of those chemicals drain out of your washer and into our water supply. Yuck!

Some notes - I can't say for certain because we don't have an HE washer, but I'm told this works for HE washers as well because it is a low sudsing detergent. Also, I do not use this detergent on my cloth diapers because soap can cause a build-up. For my cloth diapers, I use equal parts Borax, Washing Soda, and Oxy-Clean Free.

So, hopefully I answered some questions out there!! Let me know if I can answer any more! :-)