Comments on: Making Your Own Laundry Detergent: A Detailed Visual Guide

By: Chris

Chris — Tue, 30 Aug 2011 14:48:49 +0000

I thought about doing this once. Borax was $6, Washing Soda was $5, the Bars were $3 for a 3 pack…. So $14 to make it myself, or $4 for a 48 load bottle of SUN… Guess which I chose.

By: Amy

Amy — Thu, 19 May 2011 22:33:31 +0000

I’ve been making this detergent for a few years now. I just substitute the bar soap for a bar of laundry soap- “Zote.” I think this stuff works great my clothes look fine after years of washing in it, and I’m washing dirty diapers and messy baby clothes in it too! For the price, I think it can’t be beat. Takes me about ten minutes to make ( heating and all that…) Love it! Thanks so much for years of saving money and clean clothes.

By: Carolyn

Carolyn — Fri, 06 May 2011 22:13:00 +0000

I’d love an official update now that it’s been a few years. I was making my own detergent for a while (I used this same recipe) but started noticing that our clothes seemed to be looking “worn” (dingier and pillier) faster than they used to. When we got an HE washer/dryer, I stopped using my homemade detergent and I think our clothes are holding up better for it.

By: jdp

jdp — Fri, 06 May 2011 14:44:04 +0000

I remember this original post! Been around a while.

What I was wondering now that you’ve been using this for long-term, would you say your clothes are holding up as well, not wearing out any faster, etc.?

By: Joe

Joe — Wed, 04 May 2011 03:44:09 +0000

I’ve now made this three times. I think it works great, but now the people at work think it’s pretty hardcore – now I’m know as the “guy who makes his own laundry detergent.” However, after our salary was cut, one of them came and asked how to make it!

By: Lisa Smith

Lisa Smith — Fri, 04 Feb 2011 03:21:03 +0000

I love that Gracie Lou uses Dawn dishwashing soap in her recipe. I have extremely hard water and I use liquid Ultra Joy as my main surfacant and a lesser amount of Fels Naptha. Here is my recipe:

8 ounces liquid ultra Joy
4 cups washing soda
2 cups borax
1 cup all fabric bleach
1 cup oxi clean

Mix the Joy with washing 2 cups washing soda and let dry for 24 hours. Break up the chunks and put thru the food processor.

Mix all ingrediants and use 1/4 cup for a large, moderately soiled load of laundry in cold water. I run the washer on hot for a few seconds to mix the detergent and water then switch to cold.

Follow with 1/4 cup vinegar rinse.

By: Gracie Lou

Gracie Lou — Fri, 15 Oct 2010 00:37:52 +0000

I know that I can save money other ways, but it is extremely satisfying to make my own household products and to NOT be putting that extra money in the pockets of the big companies that want me to use more than I need just so they can make money.

I ust the following recipe:
1 bar Kirk’s Castille soap
1 cup BAKING soda
1 cup borax
2 cups water softener
1 cup dawn liquid dish soap
3 gallons water

I use about 1/2 c per load for my top loader and adjust as necessary. I am going to start using the vinegar rinse too when I need to use more soap.

By: Ashton

Ashton — Wed, 13 Oct 2010 02:27:00 +0000

It seems like work, But I”ll just stick with not wearing a shirt ever again.

By: Cynda

Cynda — Sun, 10 Oct 2010 14:14:40 +0000

Tips I have found after making 2 batches.

*Soak the Fels Naptha or other bar in a container of water for a week or more instead of grating. I had a hard time grating it the first batch and then trying to get it to dissolve. Afterwards I thought about how bar soap gets all goopy in a soap dish. I put the next bar in a sandwich size storage container, broke into pieces and stirred occasionally, and then put it in my blender for a whirl the day I made my next batch of detergent.

*I used two pots and dissolved the soda and borax separately. (My first batch was really grainy)

*added glycerin – about 2 tablespoons for 5 gal batch- supposed to help keep the mixture homogeneous. I did get a congealed blob much like the slime in the video.
* used my hand held stick blender to mix up about a quart at at time in a separate bucket, transferring it all to a new 5 gal container. Yes it was a bit of work, (about 20 minutes) but after about 2 months it has stayed ready to use.

Basic recipe used:
1 bar Fels Naptha, 2 cups washing soda and 2 – 2 1/2 cups borax (I have really hard water) and water to make about 5 1/2 gallons. I use 1/2 to 1 cup in a front loader with excellent results.

By: jessica

jessica — Fri, 24 Sep 2010 08:38:43 +0000

This is a great thing to do. I am 21 years old and we are tring to save all the money we can and this has help us so much, my 5 month old was breaking out so bad from everything except the most expensiv e stuff it was like 33 dollars for 22 loads my doctor had to call it in for me. after I bought that i started looking and asking around and this worked, I didnt put no borax and used ivory soap and there had been no problems thanks for sharing.

By: James A

James A — Wed, 22 Sep 2010 04:00:13 +0000

Can natural soaps be used ?

I buy homemade cold processed soaps that have glycerin and lye instead of the detergents found in commercial soaps .

By: Leah

Leah — Wed, 22 Sep 2010 00:05:31 +0000

It sounds like a lot of work. Instead, I just buy the el cheapo brand of detergent that happens to be on sale. I usually find it for $2.50 per 32 loads of laundry. Sometimes I luck up and find some for less than $2.00. I don’t have the patience to make my own.

By: Yvonne

Yvonne — Tue, 21 Sep 2010 15:49:05 +0000

Cant wait to try making it, but what is the shelf life of this? is it going to get all funky (like stagnant water) if its not finished in say 2 months or even longer? DETERMINED to save every penny I can so my kids can keep going to a good school….so thanks ALOT for sharing the 411!

By: Jee Willickers

Jee Willickers — Thu, 16 Sep 2010 01:17:28 +0000

Anyone who is looking for buckets should also try paint stores. When I painted houses we had to buy paint and the paint stores usually gave us free buckets if we asked. Sometimes you can get one that’s never been used for paint so we could brew beer in it.

By: Kelly

Kelly — Fri, 10 Sep 2010 18:49:23 +0000

You need to play around with this basic recipe as this all will depend on how hard or soft your water is. This is why it works for some and doesn’t work for others. i.e. Add more Borax for harder water. I liked Kirks Castille soap (Kroger) so much better than Fels Naptha. It was a better clean. Straight Vinegar in your softener compartment will not only soften the clothes but will also rinse of any residual soap. After a hard workout, I keep straight Vinegar in old windex bottle and spray the arm pits to kill the odor causing bacteria then toss into the hamper till its time to wash. Vinegar is a Panacea. It will not take colors out of your clothes and it disinfects. In fact, when I was on swim team, we soaked our new bathing suits in straight Vinegar before wearing them. It helped to set the color. It does not smell when dried!!

By: halfling

halfling — Fri, 10 Sep 2010 05:14:55 +0000

Tried this out with a friend of mine, we are both now hooked and are not planning to go back. If I can find a good stain spray to go with it (have little kids at home) then we would be out of the laundry aisle forever. I also switched to the dryer balls about a year ago and love them too. The kids and I have sensitive skin and we have had no reactions and this is with using the Borax.

By: dave

dave — Sun, 05 Sep 2010 02:20:39 +0000

Looks like you can do one load for just a little more than 2 cents/load if you make your own – that’s phenomenal. While I like the idea of making my own soap, I can come pretty close to the same cost at the 99-cent Only store – they sell a 64 oz. bottle of Totally Awesome Laundry Detergent for 1.00 – adequate for 32 loads. So that comes to around 3 cents/load – pretty close to the DIY solution.

By: Mark

Mark — Sat, 04 Sep 2010 14:55:55 +0000

I just made my second “batch” this morning. I scaled down the ingredients and used a lot less water. I have been very pleased with the results. What struck me this morning was that both the borax and washing soda recommended using 1/2 cup per load. I used 1/3 of a bar of soap, 10 teaspoons of washing soda and 5 teaspoons of borax to make 64 ounces of detergent that will do 20 loads of laundry. These companies’ products are wonderful, but we are constantly encouraged to overuse.

By: Sarah

Sarah — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 20:48:52 +0000

Just made this for the first time Tuesday and my first load is in the dryer. I used a bar of Zest as well as some small slivers of old soap i had laying around. I followed the recipe to the letter, and the detergent turned out quite watery, more so than in the video. I also noticed that there’s no scent to my batch, not even a “zestfully clean” scent I was hoping for.
Any ideas as to why this might be?

By: crazygab

crazygab — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 14:59:40 +0000

i have been making this laundry soap now for about a year . i have one suggestion , which works MARVELOUS for me …

# 1 tip :
instead of using a grater or a knife to chop up the soap … use a potatoe peeler . i tried the grater and had a heck of a time getting the oap out of the holes ,and i dont trust myself to whittle thin strips with a knife . but the potatoe peeler works really well .