I sort of (really) embrace the idea of living a more natural lifestyle. I like the idea of fewer chemicals and more things homemade. I like reading ingredient lists on anything and everything and being able to actually understand them. This might be why one time my sister-in-law walked in my house and said it “smells like a health food store – in a good way.” I’ll take that as a compliment. 

Anyway, I decided to start looking around for some direction on how to make homemade laundry detergent. I did a nice Pinterest search and came up with lots of different recipes. So what you see below is what I found to work best for me. And I tell you what, we LOVE this laundry detergent. It smells great, cleans your clothes and has far fewer chemicals and “extra” ingredients than your normal laundry detergent from the store. 

I do have 2 confessions to make before getting to the recipe. 

1. The detergent ingredients actually cost $31.79…not $30. So I apologize for misleading anyone. But I assure you if you were to find a coupon or sale on any of these ingredients you will be well under $30. 

2. I left out the baking soda in the picture of all the ingredients on accident. I know. Please forgive me. And please don’t forget the baking soda. 

Now that I have that off my chest, let’s get to the good stuff!

What You’ll Need:

– 3 bars Fels-Naptha, grated
– 1 box Borax
– 2 containers of OxyClean (I bought the store brand – works great!)
– 1 box Washing Soda
– 2 cups Baking Soda
– 1 bag of Epsom Salts + essential oils for scenting 

Here are a few tips:

– Use a high power blender or food processor to grate the Fels-Naptha bars. Cut them into 3 or 4 chunks and add to the food processor with a cup of the Borax. It helps it break it down more efficiently. 
– In place of the Epsom Salts + essential oils you can use a container of Purex fabric softener crystals which are scented. I prefer to make my own so I use the Epsom Salts and oils. 
– When adding oils to the Epsom Salts use 15-25 drops of your favorite oils. When I made my first batch I did a combination of grapefruit and lavender. In this batch I used lavender scented Epsom Salts so I only added 10-15 drops of lemon essential oil since the lavender was already there. 
– This makes A TON of laundry detergent. In order to mix it all together I doubled a trash bag and poured it all in and shook it around. Nice and mixed!
– A large plastic container will be perfect for storing this in. I, however, don’t have a big laundry room with space to store a large container. I filled the 2 (now empty) OxyClean containers with detergent and put the rest in a smaller plastic container to store until I needed refills. 
– You only need to use 2 tablespoons per load of laundry. I tend to use a bit more simply because my husband and I workout quite regularly and often have sweaty clothes to wash (TMI?)
– This detergent is safe for HE machines – just add it to the barrel of the machine before washing. 

I hope you like this as much as I do! It lasts forever, saves you money and is much more natural than the stuff you buy. That’s a win in my book!

Trisha