Homemade Liquid Laundry Detergent

I've been meaning to make my own liquid laundry detergent for awhile now and finally had all the ingredients, saved up enough gallon jugs and had hubby home this weekend to help me with the lifting/pouring.  

Here is what you'll need:

1 bar Fels Naptha Soap - around $2

Arm and Hammer Washing Soda - $9.99 (I ended up ordering a huge containe from Amazon so it cost more)

Borax - $3-4

5 gallon bucket with lid - we already had on hand so no cost

Essential Oil Drops for frangrance - I decided not to do this

The price breakdown for mine:

$15.99 total for all ingredients

Divided by 640 loads (for front loading machine) 180 for top loading machine

It ended up being almost $0.03 per load!  

Next time around will be cheaper still because all I'll have to buy is the fels naptha soap bar!

So here is what you'll have to do:

Save up all your gallon milk jugs

Gather your ingredients

Grate the entire bar of fels-naptha soap....this takes a little elbow grease! :)

Put in a pot with 4 cups of hot water.  Stir continuously over medium-low heat until all of the soap flakes have dissolved and melted (about 10 minutes).

get out your 5 gallon bucket and fill it half full with hot water

Pour in the soap mixture.  Add 1 cup of Arm & Hammer Washing Soda and 1/2 cup Borax.  Stir.

Stir, stir, stir!

Fill the rest of the bucket with water and stir again.

cover and let it sit over night

 When you open the top up the next day, it should have gelled and thickened slightly.  Stir again.

Use a funnel to fill a clean laundry detergent container (or gallon-size milk jug) and fill it HALF way with the soap mixture.  Fill the other half with water and shake.
The gallon jugs are still full concentrate detergent, the half gallons and green and red laundry containers are half/half and ready to use!  I added some labels to them so I remember how much to add and to always shake it before using it.

Once you’re ready to use the laundry soap, shake it in the container first.  Then add:
-5/8 cups for a regular top-loading machine
-1/4 cup for a front-loading (HE) machine


I washed my first load of laundry with it last night and everything seemed to come clean just fine and there is no smell to it so Tyler was happy.  I think it's a keeper!