Homemade Laundry Detergent

I’ve been on a journey the last 15 years to eliminate toxins in my food and life. It’s been slow at times. Sometimes you have to go through a lot of recipes to find something that sticks and fits into your lifestyle. That’s how it was for me and laundry detergent.

I grew up using Amway’s SA8 so I was familiar with laundry detergent that is biodegradable and has no phosphates – even though I had no idea what phosphates are.

When I moved out of the house and started choosing my own detergents, I just bought what was cheapest – except Tide. I’d seen too many “demonstrations” about how much of that detergent is made up of fillers to buy it. I chose to buy a liquid detergent called ALL, Free & Clear. I was okay with it. It cleaned my kids’ clothes fine.

Then I thought about how little I knew about the ingredients in that detergent, even though they called it “free and clear.” I didn’t know anything about it. I figured I could do better.

So, I chose a couple recipes online and started experimenting. I made the powdered soap with grated Ivory bars. I made several different versions using the Fels-naptha soap. I didn’t like any of them.

For whatever reason, the powdered soap would never fully dissolve in our water or washing machine. I was left with white residue on dark clothing so I returned to the ALL for a few years.

I tried again in 2015 but this time I decided that liquid detergent was the way to go. I figured if it was already dissolved, it wouldn’t leave residue on the clothes. Again, working from several different recipes, I developed one that I love and have used ever since.

I’m not exaggerating when I tell you I buy ingredients once a year to make all our laundry detergent – each batch costs pennies to make, saving you a lot of money over time.

In the interest of transparency, I do also use Oxi-clean as needed for stained towels and clothes. I also still use bleach sparingly. And, I still use Amway’s Prewash spray because I’ve not found anything better for ring-around-the-collar. I also use a fabric softener that is not natural because the natural ones contain vinegar and there’s nothing quite like clothing that was rinsed in vinegar sitting in a drawer for a few weeks – or having to rewash your whole wardrobe to remove the vinegar smell. If you have a great fabric softener recipe with no vinegar, send it my way!

The recipe is only three ingredients and I understand what each of them are.

A few notes:

• This recipe uses here’s an article to help you understand why I think it’s safe.
• I use
  Homemade Laundry Detergent
   
  

  Author:

  Cherise Harper

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  Ingredients

  • 2 Tbls. Borax
  • 2 Tbls. Baking Soda
  • 3 Tbls. Castile Soap (unscented)
  • 10 drops of essential oils (optional)
  Instructions

  1. Fill half gallon glass jug ⅓ full with hot water.
  2. Add 2 Tbls. Borax
  3. Add 2 Tbls. Baking Soda
  4. Stir until dissolved.
  5. Add water to fill the jug.
  6. Add 3 Tbls. Castile Soap (and essential oil, if using.)
  7. Stir.
  8. -
  9. Use ⅓ cup per load of laundry.
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