Homemade Laundry Detergent

I started making laundry detergent at a time when money was seriously tight. Gary asked me to spend less money on the household budget, and food seemed non-negotiable, so I started looking for ways to cut out really expensive portions of that budget. Household cleaners seemed to be SO expensive, and they just kept going up. So I gave it a try, and was so impressed with the results that I kept on making it.

There are LOTS of formulae for homemade laundry detergent. Mine is not necessarily original, but it is the one that seems to work best for us (it cleans well, vs. Gary and Grace are both mildly allergic to certain brands) and doesn't have fancy ingredients to jack up the price.

EQUIPMENT:
grater or food processor that you don't mind grinding soap in
4-quart saucepan
stove top
5 gallon bucket with lid
sifter or mesh strainer
long-handled spoon (long enough to stir the bottom of your 5-gallon bucket with 4 gallons of liquid in it)
1 cup dry measuring cup
gallon or half-gallon pitcher
long latex or nitrile gloves

About this stuff: Some people have designated soap-making equipment. I guess they are afraid of cross-contamination or something. If you have serious sensitivities to chemicals, I can see that it would be an issue. Otherwise, here's my take on it: It's SOAP. It rinses off. So I use the same box-grater that I have owned since the last century, the same 4-quart pan I make fudge in, the same measuring cups... you get the picture.

You need a big bucket, and it needs a lid. Your detergent has to rest 24 hours after making it.  You may want to store your soap in this bucket as well, and only fill up an old detergent bottle to go to the laundromat, or to make it easier/less messy to pour and measure.

I use a flour sifter for two reasons: boxes of detergent and cleaning powders are not plastic-lined, and if they're stored in a dampish place, or if there is high humidity, the contents clump up. I sift all three powdered ingredients for this reason, and also because sifting them into the water is easier than pouring water on top of them and trying to get them to dissolve. Borax particularly clumps together in hot water, and the clumps are really hard.

After the first time I measured 3 gallons of water into my bucket (which in a former life was a cat-litter bucket), I took a paring knife and scratched a mark inside at the water level, so I didn't have to measure that again. (The bucket is square, so I marked it on all four sides. If your bucket is round, consider marking it under the handle hinges. Sharpie marker isn't a good tool to use for this, because they don't like water and the mark will come off, no matter how permanent it might seem.) If you have joy in filling a pitcher 3 or 6 times, you need not mark the inside of your bucket. To me, it's really boring and I lose track of the number.

INGREDIENTS:
1 bar of soap (I use Fels Naptha, but I have, in a pinch, used 2 bars of Ivory or 1 Lever 2000)
6-8 cups water
and
3 gallons hot water
1 cup 20 Mule-Team Borax
2 cups Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda
1 cup baking soda

PROCEDURE
Grate the bar of soap into the saucepan. Sometimes the soap is soft, sometimes it's really hard and dry. In general, if it's soft I use the side of the grater with big holes. If it's hard, I use the side of the grater that has the pointy sticky-outy surface like you'd grate a nutmeg on. If the soap is soft, it will melt pretty well, but if it's hard, the smaller the better. You can use a food processor on hard soap to great effect, but you lose some of the softer soap on your equipment.

Add 6-8 cups of water and set on heat to simmer. (I usually pour the water over the grater into the pan to get all the soap I can.) Stir it occasionally. You don't actually want it to boil. The heat helps the soap melt faster. If you were trying to do this with zero energy consumption, you can dissolve the soap in water without heat, but it takes a lot longer.

While the soap is dissolving, put 3 gallons of hot tap water into your bucket. Once again, the heat just helps things dissolve faster. Into this, stirring after each addition, sift 1 cup of borax, 2 cups of super washing soda, and 1 cup of baking soda. Stir until dissolved.

When the soap is melted, pour it into the bucket and mix well. Put a lid on it and let it sit for 24 hours.

The next day, your soap will be a fairly hard gel. It may have a thin layer of water on top. Use your long-handled spoon to cut it into chunks, and wear the gloves to squeeze the chunks with your hands. You can also refine it with a wire whisk. The reason I go to this length is that high-efficiency machines don't use a lot of water, and large lumps of detergent don't always dissolve in the course of the cycle (which means white streaks on your clothes, it's a mess, don't do it). I don't recommend a blender for this process. It put too much air into the mixture, and it's just generally messy. You can use a hand mixer at a low speed, being careful not to submerge any electrical motors, and you can use an emersion blender which adds little to no air.

When your soap is reasonably lump-free, you can transfer it to smaller containers for portability, or just store it in the lidded bucket (which is what I do, but I don't have to travel to do laundry).

Use 1/2 to 3/4 cup per large load, depending on how dirty your laundry is. 

The detergent is low-sudsing, so don't freak out if you can't see bubbles. It works well in h-e machines, as long as there are no lumps. It rinses clean, and doesn't have a strong odor in and of itself. It cleans well (I still have to treat protein-stains and grease stains, but I'd have to do that if I was using Tide). It makes 4 gallons, approximately. Using 1/2 cup per load, that is 128 loads per batch. Googling each ingredient and taking the price that seems most like what I would pay at Kroger, buying all the ingredients costs about $10.30, and it makes several batches. (For the sake of comparison, a 64-load bottle of Tide costs $11.97.)

For powdered detergent fans, you can put these ingredients together without the water, and use about 1 to 2 tablespoons per load. I have done it, but I tend to use too much in this form (just can't stop myself), so it's not as economical for me.