DIY Homemade Laundry Detergent

By Irene Shaver @hhwife
A friend of mine got me into making homemade laundry detergent.  I have now made it about 3 times and have found a recipe and really like.  The best part is definitely the cost savings but knowing exactly what is going into your detergent is also huge for me.  I had always bought the natural, biodegradable detergent before but here in Canada they do not come cheap.
So I did a bit of math today for you so you can see how much you actually are saving.
With this recipe I made approximately 7.25 L of laundry soap which coast me about less than $2.00 to make.  I use about 1/4 cup of detergent per load which gives me about 116 loads at less than 2 cents per load!  If I compare this to what I was buying before I was spending about  per load.
Ingredients
  • 1/2 cup borax
  • 1/2 cup washing soda
  • 1/2 cup grated natural soap bar (I used one by Soap Works)
  • 30-40 drops pure essential oil (I used doTERRA Citrus Bliss)
  • 8 litres of hot water

 Directions
  1. Add all ingredients into a large bucket and stir until soap is all dissolved. 
  2. Let soap sit until completely cool and stir a couple times if possible.
  3. Once cooled whisk until fully combined.  I used my hand blender to ensure everything was combined.
  4. Store in sealed containers.  I used about 1/4 cup per load and shake the bottle just before use.