Hey big laundry detergent companies...the jig is up! You have been fooling us for too long!
Turns out we don't need to cough up a bunch of cash for those expensive, chemical ridden detergents anymore. If you've been on any blogs lately, chances are you've seen people making their own laundry detergent. And it really is as easy as everyone is claiming it is. I got all 3 ingredients at Kroger for less than $3 each.


Ok, I'm not going to pretend for a second that I came up with this recipe or that it was my idea. I did a lot of research and found many, MANY different sites, mixtures, recipes, ingredients, and so on.

Here are some of the links I used to make my concoction.
Mother Nature Mom
10 Homemade Laundry Soap Detergent Recipes
Jabs Homemade Landry Detergent

So, here's how I did it...

1 1/2 cups Borax
1 1/2 cups Washing Soda
1 bar Fels-Naptha

First I grated the bar of Fels-Naptha. Next time I do this, I'm going to try Dr. Bronner's. This was the most irritating part of the process but it only took about 15 minutes...nothing that would keep me from doing this again.


It wasn't quite powdery enough so I threw it in my lil' food processer and got it to the consistency I wanted. Might even grate it even more next time.
Mix all the ingredients together...and that's it!


Use 1tbsp per load. And YES you can use it with HE machines because it's a low suds detergent.

A couple more little tricks I learned
when doing my research...
If you don't want to use fabric softener anymore, you can just put a couple drops of oil (like lavender or Tea Tree) on a washcloth & throw it in the dryer with your wet clothes. To soften your clothes, put a little vinegar in the "softener dispenser". Turns out it removes that soap build-up & even neutralizes odors. Who knew?

I LOVE the smell of this mix. It just smells clean and I love knowing exactly what's in our soap now. I even used it on my cloth diapers today & it worked great!

Watch out shampoo & dish detergent...you guys are next!