How to make homemade liquid laundry detergent

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Published April 17, 2019 Last Updated June 15, 2020 / By Jessica 119 Comments

This homemade liquid laundry detergent is the best homemade laundry detergent ever! Save money on detergent without sacrificing quality!

We are so excited to share this DIY liquid laundry detergent recipe with you today. After a lot of trial and error, I feel confident I’ve found the best homemade laundry detergent recipe. We have actually tried homemade laundry detergent recipes twice before this one, and neither impressed me. In full disclosure, my first two attempts were for dry laundry detergent.

Why I Choose Homemade Liquid Laundry Detergent

I had almost given up on homemade laundry detergent completely, when my good friend Keesha texted me and said she had a recipe and wanted to make it together! I had my doubts, but she told me her mom and her sister had both been using this kind forever and swore by it, so I decided I would give it a go. Holy cow. I am in love with this homemade liquid laundry detergent, it is AMAZING!

Every time I open up the washer to switch loads, I am filled with joy because it smells fresh and clean. It also doesn’t leave gross residue, and gets out tough dirt and stains. Suffice it to say, this recipe is gonna shrink your laundry expenses considerably!

Since everyone has to do laundry, here are a few of our other popular laundry related posts! Free Printable Laundry Cheat Sheet is great for remembering what gets out what stain! These DIY Laundry Organization Bags are the cutest for storing laundry during the week, and everyone should know How to Clean your Washing Machine.

*This post contains affiliate links.

Best Homemade Laundry Detergent

You ready for the easy recipe?

DIY Liquid Laundry Detergent Ingredients

• Fels-Naptha soap bar
• Washing soda
• Borax
• Essential oils (optional)
• Water

After gathering your ingredients you will start by grating your Fels-Naptha soap bar. Here is what the Fels-naptha soap looked like after grating it. You want to use the smallest grater that you have, so that it melts as quickly and easily as possible!While you are grating your soap start four cups of water boiling.

Add your grated Fels-Naptha bar and stir over medium heat until soap is completely melted.

Next, fill your five gallon bucket up halfway with hot tap water.

Then add your other dry ingredients and stir together.

Finally, fill your bucket the rest of the way with hot water and stir again.

Be sure to clearly label your containers so that everyone knows they contain a detergent. Also, if you have young children be sure to keep your laundry detergent in a childproof container or on a high shelf. Here is the gallon jar I used, and here is a good five gallon bucket! I also love this gamma seal lid!

How much liquid laundry detergent does this recipe make?

This recipe makes a 5 gallon tub of liquid detergent. You only need 1/2 cup detergent for top loader machines and 1/4 for front loader machines per load! It’s easy to see how utilizing homemade laundry detergent can add up to a big savings!

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If you make this recipe and like it we would love for you to leave us a comment and a positive rating, they mean so much to us!

You have just made your first batch of homemade laundry detergent. While the liquid or powdered detergent was simple to make and will save money for your family, you now have a huge amount on hand. Every recipe for homemade laundry detergent is safe to use in a standard top load washer that uses plenty of water for the wash and rinse cycles. But, are homemade detergents and other homemade laundry products safe to use in front load or top load HE washers?

Homemade Laundry Detergent and High-Efficiency Washers

Homemade laundry detergent can be made as a liquid, powder or single dose tablet. Since none of the recipes or formulas contain a sudsing agent as an ingredient, they are all safe to use in a high-efficiency washer. Use two tablespoons of liquid or powdered homemade laundry detergent or one single dose tablet per average-sized load. For large capacity washers, the amount can be doubled for a full load.

Top loading HE washers work well with powdered, liquid or single-dose tablet homemade detergent. Whichever format you have made, just add it directly to the washer drum before loading clothes.

For front-loading machines that use less water, a liquid homemade detergent seems to work more smoothly especially in an automatic dispenser. If you are using the automatic dispenser on either type of high-efficiency washer, be sure that the homemade detergent has no clumps and is flowing well. Shaking the container may be sufficient, but if the liquid is not smooth, mix the detergent with two tablespoons of hot water before adding to the washer’s automatic dispenser.

If you choose to use powdered detergent in a front load washer, add the two tablespoons directly to the drum before loading in the soiled laundry. If you experience problems because the detergent doesn’t dissolve completely and leaves white residue on your clothes, dissolve the suggested two tablespoons of homemade powder in one cup of very warm water before adding it to the drum. Never place homemade dry detergent powder in an automatic dispenser. It will not dispense and dissolve properly.

Homemade single-dose tablets, like their manufactured cousins, should be placed directly in the drum of the washer before loading in soiled clothes. Again, dissolve in warm water if you have problems with residue.

If you are washing items like sweaters or lingerie on the gentle cycle and plan to use a homemade wool wash, it should also be dissolved in a cup of warm water before adding to the drum in a high-efficiency washer. The homemade wool wash formula forms a thickened gel and dissolving it in water before adding clothes will make sure that everything is well cleaned.

As with the use of any detergent, clean the high-efficiency washer often to prevent odor and build-up of lint and residue.

Homemade Laundry Scent Enhancers and High-Efficiency Washers

If you like to add scent to your laundry, homemade scent enhancers are very simple to make using Epsom salts and essential oils. These dry formulas can be added in the quantity you desire to achieve the level of fragrance you love.

Simply add the dry formula to the bottom of the high-efficiency washer drum before you load in the soiled laundry and before water is added at the beginning of the cycle.

Homemade Fabric Softener and High-Efficiency Washers

If you talk to any manufacturer of high-efficiency washers, they will tell you that one of the worst enemies of the washer is commercial fabric softener. The softener is filled with ingredients that leave a coating inside the washer drum that acts as a breeding ground for mold and mildew especially in areas where laundry rooms are in a damp, warm climate.

If you feel the need to use a fabric softener in your laundry routine, a homemade version that is made from distilled white vinegar, baking soda and essential oils for fragrance is a much friendlier choice for high-efficiency washers.

The homemade fabric softener has a tendency to separate so it needs to have a good shake before every use. After shaking, it can be placed in the washer’s automatic dispenser or in one of the fabric softener balls you can purchase that releases the fabric softener during the rinse cycle.

Catherine is a wordsmith covering lifestyle tips on Lifehack. Read full profile

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Unless you’re a rather stinky, slovenly sort, chances are that you do your laundry fairly regularly, and not just to wash your clothes: bedding, towels, blankets, stuffed animals… everything needs to be washed and freshened up every so often, and every load of laundry requires that magical additive that suds up and leaves it all smelling wonderful: detergent. Depending on the type that you buy, it can range from just a couple of dollars per package to uber-expensive, and the cheaper options tend to be the most damaging to the environment. You also have a limited selection of scents to choose from—many of which are downright headache-inducing—and some people have such super-sensitive skin that they’ll also react to the chemicals in these products.

Fortunately, with just a tiny bit of time and effort, you can make your own laundry detergent for a fraction of what you’d pay for anything you’d find at the store.

The type of soap you use for this will determine the fragrance, so if you prefer to use products that don’t have any strong scents, aim for a bar of pure vegetable glycerine or castile soap, as these are generally unscented. They’re also some of the most eco-friendly choices out there, so you don’t have to worry about polluting your waterways with a bunch of vile chemicals. This homemade detergent is safe for septic tanks, and is completely biodegradable.

*Note: you can skip the “dissolving in water” step and just blend the dry ingredients together (grated soap, borax, and washing/baking soda) and then use 2 tbsp of that dry detergent in every load of laundry, but if you go this route, you have to either wash your clothes in hot water, or fill the washing machine part-way with hot water and dissolve the soap in it before you add your clothes and top it up with the water temperature of your choice. This detergent will not dissolve in cold water.

What You’ll Need:

• 1 litre of Water
• 1 bar of your favourite soap, grated
• A large bowl
• 1 cup of Borax
• 1/2 cup of washing soda (or baking soda, if the washing soda isn’t available)
• A large stock pot
• 2 large empty containers with lids (I like to use plastic cat litter pails with capped pouring spouts)
• grater
• funnel
• long plastic or metal spoon
• Optional: essential oil in a scent that’s complementary to the soap you’re using

Step 1: Grate

Grate your bar of soap into a large bowl. If you have a super-fine grater, use it, as it’ll make the soap melt much more quickly than when it’s grated with the larger setting, but as long as you manage to reduce it to really small pieces, that’s all that matters. If you don’t have a grater, then just shave it with a sharp knife; hopefully you have one of those, at least.

Step 2: Dissolve

Warm up the water in a large stock pot on medium-high heat, and then add the grated soap to it one handful at a time, stirring it gently with your spoon until it dissolves.

Step 3: Blend

After the soap has completely dissolved, remove the stock pot from the heat and stir in the borax and washing/baking soda. Like the grated soap flakes, you’ll add it in a bit at a time and stir continuously until everything has dissolved. Let this cool for half an hour or so.

Step 4: Scent

Once cooled, you can add in some essential oil for scent, if desired. If you’re going to do this, be sure to add scent that’s complementary to the soap that you used: adding something sweet or minty to a citrus soap will be absolutely repugnant, so keep to the same fragrance profile. When in doubt, leave it out.

Should you decide to use essential oils, add in 20 or so to the stock pot and stir it well. I like to use lemon and tangerine, as I like citrus notes in our linens and such, but my favourite is rose: I’ll use a rose-scented soap, and then add in extra rose absolute essential oil. Note that I do not use this particular detergent for my husband’s clothes, as he wouldn’t be terribly pleased to go about smelling like a rosebush—for guy-friendly detergent, stick to scentless, minty, citrus, or “green” scents (like Irish Spring).

Step 5: Decant and Store

Here’s where your large spouted containers or pails come in: get someone to hold the funnel for you and pour (or ladle) the liquid detergent into the containers until they’re 3/4 full. This mixture can thicken up a bit once it’s cooled, so leave a bit of space to add extra water if it’s needed. Alternately, if you’re using a large plastic pail with a lid on it, just pour the contents of the stock pot right into the pail, and seal it shut. Then, you’ll just use 1/2 cup of it for every load of laundry, and voila! Clean clothes.

If you go this route, you’ll never have to buy those chemical-laden detergents ever again, and can easily do 30+ loads of wash for just a few cents per load.

Published July 29, 2020 · Last Updated Sep 18, 2020 · Green Cleaning

Of all the DIY cleaners, laundry detergent is the one that I haven’t wanted to do. I would start reading ingredient lists and directions and instantly look away. It’s always been easier to buy laundry soap (even the not-so-great stuff) then turn my kitchen into a soap-making factory. Until I found this easy recipe for homemade liquid laundry detergent.

I won’t lie. DIY liquid laundry detergent isn’t my most favorite recipe to make. Other green cleaning recipes are so much easier and use ingredients I generally always have in the house. Compared to laundry detergent which uses borax and washing soda (I didn’t even know what those were until recently).

But for many, making laundry detergent is a way of doing the following:

• Making laundry detergent for sensitive skin
• Saving money
• Knowing exactly what ingredients are in your clothes
• Homesteading

What Ingredients to Use in DIY Laundry Detergent

There aren’t a lot of ingredients to use. Which is why this simple recipe does make me happy. But you might not be familiar with these ingredients, yet. So let me explain how they work.

Castile Soap

This gentle soap made from plant-based ingredients is super gentle. That’s why it’s often used for sensitive skin.

Castile soap suds up well. And it comes in a variety of scents. Unscented is great for sensitive skin and those that don’t like fragrance. You can also buy with natural fragrance such as lavender or peppermint.

Dr. Bronner’s has been the gold standard in Castile soap since 1858. But there are other varieties that work, too. Such as Kirk’s Original Coco Castile Soap made from coconut oil.

Washing Soda (NOT Baking Soda)

Washing soda is a chemical compound known as sodium carbonate. It can soften water and help to remove stains. It creates alkaline water, which is beneficial for removing stains and cleaning clothes.

The substance can cause irritation if handled directly, so just be careful.

Yes, there is a difference between washing soda and baking soda. In washing soda, the carbon dioxide and water molecules from baking soda are removed (you can easily do this yourself in an oven with this washing soda recipe).

Borax

Some people like using borax. Others think it’s not a green cleaning ingredient.

Borax is a natural mineral that is mined. However, it doesn’t mean it is completely non-toxic. Borax can cause health problems if children, pets or adults were to ingest it or have it get in their eyes, nose or throat.

The benefits of borax in your laundry detergent are numerous, including:

• Changes the pH level of the water to more alkaline, so your clothes get cleaner
• Whitens whites
• Inhibits mold
• Neutralizes odors
• Softens hard water
• Gets rid of soap residue
• Helps to remove stains

Liquid Laundry Detergent Recipe

Ingredients

• 16 cups of water
• 1 cup borax
• 1 cup washing soda
• A 5 oz. bar of Dr. Bronners soap(unscented or scented)

Supplies

• Medium size pot for cooking
• Large pot for mixing
• Storage container
• Knife
• Spoon

Directions

1. Shave off the soap with the knife into the pot or use a cheese grater to grate the bar soap.
2. Add 6 cups of water and heat slowly on medium heat until the soap pieces dissolve. Heat just under boiling or gentle boiling – do not let it boil over! Keep stirring to prevent the soap from bubbling over the top (about 15-20 minutes).
3. Add in the washing soda and borax and stir until fully dissolved. Remove from heat.
4. Pour this mixture into another larger pot or container. (The 2-gallon or 5-gallon buckets from the hardware store work great for this. Make sure they are clean and don’t have an odor in them, though.)
5. Add 10 more cups of water. Stir together. Let cool.
6. Pour into your storage container and seal.

*Depending on a lot of factors, you may find that the finished laundry soap will gel a little bit. This will be perfectly fine and will not affect how it performs. Just give it a quick mix or shake it up before adding to the laundry as you do the loads.

To Use

Use about 1/4 cup of soap per load of laundry and wash as normal.

Even More Green Cleaning Recipes

We have a lot of DIY cleaning recipes to help save you money and exposure to nasty chemicals. Check out these posts:

• Fizzy Toilet Bowl Cleaner
• Natural Odor Eliminator
• Olive Oil Lemon Furniture Polish
• Beeswax Wood Polish
• Dusting Spray

Detergents contain dozens of potentially harmful ingredients but with just three simple ingredients you can make a cheap, environmentally friendly alternative

Baking soda: almost the same as washing soda, one of just three ingredients for your homemade detergent. Photograph: Lana Sundman/Alamy

Baking soda: almost the same as washing soda, one of just three ingredients for your homemade detergent. Photograph: Lana Sundman/Alamy

Last modified on Tue 6 Oct 2015 14.19 BST

My daughter just turned three. She loves being naked and disrobes at every opportunity, including in the middle of her recent dinosaur-themed birthday party.

I get it – who doesn’t love to be in the buff? But bar those of us lucky enough to live alone in the woods, pesky social norms dictate that we wear clothing. So we wear fabric. And even if you enjoy the thrill of sleeping nude, you’re still nestled into pillowcases and snuggled up to soft sheets.

The point? You presumably wash these textiles at least occasionally, and it’s worth thinking about the ingredients in your detergents.

The costs of environmental damage often seem abstract: a skeletal polar bear floating on an iceberg thousands of miles away, or the threat of rising water levels some decades in the future. Heartbreaking, yes, but seemingly beyond the realm of what we are capable of changing.

Detergent, however, is not.

Laundry ingredients seem innocuous enough, but those cheerful plastic bottles house a host of problems, including the bottle itself. Popular detergents contain dozens of potentially harmful ingredients, including petrochemicals, carcinogens and optical brighteners, which linger on clothing, cause skin irritation and are toxic to marine life.

Tide detergent alone contains 27 separate ingredients – including “fragrance”, which in itself can contain hundreds of individual chemical compounds, and can be used to hide a multitude of sins.

And if you thought the fun was over when you popped that load in the dryer, think again. A recent study from the University of Washington found that dryer vents in homes that use popular scented laundry detergents and dryer sheets emit more than 25 volatile organic compounds, including two known carcinogens.

Yikes. So, why are we paying companies that make us smell ridiculous, when we could be making our own product for a fraction of the cost with a drastically reduced environmental impact?

I swear on my tyrant toddler, it’s not even hard. If you can operate a cheese grater, you can do this.

Homemade laundry detergent

Gather your three ingredients:

• Washing soda (different from baking soda, although not by much)

• Borax (If borax is unavailable or if you’re nervous about using it – some people are – just double the washing soda.)

• A bar of natural soap (I use Dr Bronner’s, which is scented with essential oils)

All should be readily available at your local supermarket (Washing soda and borax are packaged in cardboard boxes and typically take up residence in the bottom shelf of the laundry aisle.).

Take your bar of natural soap and grate it. If you have a food processor with a grater attachment this will be a cinch, if not, you’ll have to make yourself useful by grating a few bars during your next Netflix marathon.

Add the grated soap to 250ml each of washing soda and borax, mix well.

Use one to two tablespoons per load.

I’ve used this recipe for years now – including two years of cloth diapering – in both standard and high-efficiency machines and with mostly cold-water washes. If you can go one step further and snub your dryer – even for a few loads a week – in favour of a clothesline or drying rack, your laundry routine will be lean, green and plastic bottle-free.

But if all of this grating and mixing seems like too much work, you could just, you know, stop wearing clothing altogether. No clothing means no laundry to do, and no laundry to do means you can just ditch detergent completely!

Pint-sized sources in my neck of the woods assure me that it’s the hot new thing – all you need is less, right?

Making the Best Homemade Laundry Detergent

If you’re trying to make an eco-friendly laundry room, one great place to start is by making your own homemade laundry detergent. This recipe is the best homemade laundry detergent because it’s non-toxic, will help you save money, and can help you avoid the dangerous chemicals in store-bought laundry detergent.

Why Switch to Homemade Laundry Detergent

Before I started using soap nuts to do laundry and homemade soap nut liquid laundry detergent, I made my own homemade laundry detergent after learning about the toxic chemicals found in many store-bought detergents.

In fact, a study done at the University of Washington found that the top-selling laundry products emitted nearly 100 volatile organic compounds (VOCs). VOCs are known to have a variety of short- and long-term adverse health effects, including headaches; damage to the liver and kidneys; eye, nose, and throat irritation; and even some types of cancers.

Additionally, every product gave off at least one chemical regulated as hazardous or toxic under federal laws. Yet none of these products had the chemicals listed on their labels.

That’s because manufacturers aren’t required to list ingredients in cleaning products, including laundry detergents and fabric softeners.

To protect your health, the health of your family, and the environment, your safest option is to make your own laundry detergent. Fortunately, it’s incredibly easy to do so with this recipe.

Best Homemade Laundry Detergent Ingredients

When you’re ready to make your own laundry detergent, you’ll need the following ingredients:

You’ll also need to gather the following tools:

• Grater or food processor
• Large mixing bowl
• Spoon
• Gallon mason jar with lid

How to Make Homemade Laundry Detergent

1. Grate the bar of soap using the grater or food processor until it’s finely ground.
2. Put the ground bar of soap, washing soda, baking soda, and borax powder into the large bowl and use a spoon to thoroughly combine the ingredients.
3. Pour the mixture into the mason jar and secure the lid.
4. Use 1 tablespoon of detergent for small or medium loads and 2 tablespoons for large or heavily soiled clothes.

Using Your Laundry Detergent

This laundry detergent is safe to use in high-efficiency or regular washing machines.

Since the recipe uses unscented castile soap, it won’t have any fragrance to it. If you prefer a light scent on your clothing, you can use one of the scented castile soap bars. Some good options for laundry include lavender or rose.

Fabric softeners and dryer sheets can have some of the same health concerns as store-bought laundry detergents. If you want to enjoy soft clothes without using fabric softener, add a cup of white vinegar to the rinse cycle and use wool dryer balls in the dryer.

You can also check out this post for even more excellent ways to naturally soften your clothes without using dryer sheets.

Plus, don’t forget to get one of these incredibly effective eco-friendly laundry stain removers to get rid of every type of stain on your clothes.

More Eco-Friendly Cleaning Tips

Now that you see how easy it is to make the best homemade laundry detergent, are you interested in even more eco-friendly cleaning tips? Then be sure to check out a few of our other popular posts:

2 thoughts on “ Best Homemade Laundry Detergent ”

Great recipe, could I use a natural homemade soap instead of castille soap? I live in Italy and not sure if it’s available here. Thanks

Absolutely! This recipe will also work with a natural homemade soap.

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February 29, 2016 Updated on July 29, 2019 By Beth K 31 Comments This post contains affiliate links.

When our family was first experimenting with natural cleaners we tried tons of recipes for laundry. After some trial and error, we came up with this Liquid Laundry Detergent recipe that works great. It gets clothes clean, removes odor, and doesn’t leave a yucky residue in our washer!

With 8 people in our home, we do a TON of laundry so it was important to us that the detergent we used met our three criteria for successful laundry detergent:

• It gets clothes clean
• Removes odors
• It doesn’t leave a yucky residue in our washer
• High-efficiency washer safe

Trust me when I say that not all natural recipes live up to those three simple guidelines. Even our regular routine using Castile soap didn’t always work the best on really tough loads. It was good, but not really great!

Then Dr. Bronner’s released Sal Suds and our lives got brighter – along with our laundry! It’s got a strong cleaning function that we feel like does an even better job than the regular Castile soap that we used for a few years.

You might love powder detergents, but they always made me nervous that our high-efficiency washer wasn’t dissolving all of the flakes. That’s the reason we premix our detergent into a liquid. Then I know for certain that there won’t be undissolved clumps of laundry detergent in my loads.

Here’s a secret: this recipe is really a liquid version of our very popular recipe for treating musty laundry. Stinky laundry (whether it’s from body odor or slow laundry routines) is something we all deal with.

That’s why we decided to integrate that natural answer to a universal problem into this new Liquid Laundry Detergent Recipe:

Homemade Liquid Laundry Detergent

Ingredients

• 2/3 cup Sal Suds
• 2 2/3 cups water
• 2/3 cup baking soda
• 30 drops Purification Essential Oil
• 1 quart-sized mason jar

Directions

• Place water, baking soda, and essential oil in the jar.
• Add soap.
• Replace the lid and swirl to combine.

To use:

• Add 1/4 cup detergent per HE load. Use 1/2 cup for regular washing machine.
• Optional: Add vinegar in rinse as a natural fabric softener and to remove any remaining odors or residue.
• Optional: 1/3 – 1 cup vinegar per load

See more about how our laundry routine has evolved here. Also, if you’re interested in saving energy (and you don’t have a clothesline), check out our experience with wool dryer balls to see if they’re right for you. We love them!

We love this recipe so much that we made it part of our Kitchen and Laundry Cleaning Make and Take Party Printable Pack. Have a party, make some great cleaners, and send them home with friends and family to enjoy! You can find out more about our Make & Take Party Printable Packs here.

The Best Homemade Laundry Soap Recipes

Do you want to know how to save BIG money on laundry soap? Well, it’s quite easy really, all you need to do is learn how to make your own!

I originally learned how to make this liquid DIY laundry detergent from a friend, but it’s originally based on the Duggar laundry soap recipe, which is one of the most popular homemade laundry soap recipes around.

And if you prefer powder, it is even easier to make and one of my other friends uses it all the time! She got her recipe from The Paleo Mama.

Homemade laundry soap is super easy to make, will make your clothes smell great, and will save you lots of money!

DIY Laundry Detergent Recipe (Powder Version)

Homemade Laundry Soap Ingredients (Powder)

• 3 cups borax
• 3 cups washing soda (NOT baking soda)
• 3 cups baking soda
• 2 bars castile soap
• doTERRA essential oil

How to Make Powder Laundry Detergent

Step 1:

Start by using a cheese grater to grate or shred the bar soap. Then, in a large bowl, mix together the borax, washing soda, and baking soda.

Step 2:

Add the grated soap and 1 cup or the borax powder mixture to a food processor or high power blender. Adding the powder mixture helps keep the soap from sticking to the blades. Blend it together until powder consistency.

Step 3:

While the blender or food processor is running, add the essential oil drops and allow it to blend into the mixture.

Add the soap mixture to the large bowl with the powder mixture and stir or whisk until combined.

• Yield: Powder soap recipe makes about 10 1/4 cups (about 164 tablespoons).
• Top Load Machine: 1-2 tablespoons per load (Approx. 82-164 loads)
• Front Load Machines: 1-2 tablespoons per load (Approx. 82-164 loads)

Step 4 (Optional): Adding Essential Oils to Your Homemade Laundry Soap

15 drops Lemon and 15 drops Wild Orange is a great combo. Other great options are 30 drops Purify or 30 drops OnGuard. When you use high-quality oils, like doTERRA, you are only improving the laundry soap – with scent and cleansing power. Citrus oils are known to be cleansing!

DIY Liquid Laundry Soap Recipe

Homemade Laundry Soap Ingredients (Liquid)

• 1 bar Fels-Naptha Soap (or Ivory for sensitive skin, Pink Zote, or castile soap)
• 1/2 cup borax
• 1 cup washing soda (NOT baking soda)
• 5-gallon bucket and lid

How to Make DIY Liquid Laundry Detergent

Start again by grating your bar of soap. Then, add your grated soap to a saucepan with 4 cups of water. Stir continually over medium-low heat until soap dissolves and is melted.

Next, fill a 5-gallon bucket half full of hot tap water and add your melted soap, washing soda, and borax. Stir well until all the powder is dissolved. Then fill the bucket to the top with more hot water, stir, cover, and let sit overnight to thicken.

After it has thickened overnight you can put it in the dispenser of your choice. It is very thick and gel-like, so use a big spoon to stir it. I use a measuring cup and funnel to put equal parts of soap and hot water into the old detergent bottle, and then just shake it up and you’re are ready to go!

You can also try adding doTERRA essential oils to the soap after it is cooled.

• Yield: Liquid soap recipe makes 10 gallons.
• Top Load Machine: 5/8 Cup per load (Approx. 180 loads)
• Front Load Machines: ¼ Cup per load (Approx. 640 loads)

One batch of this liquid laundry soap lasts me a whole year which adds up to almost $200 in savings for my family (we go through a lot of laundry detergent).

Where to Buy Homemade Laundry Soap Ingredients

I can usually find all of the ingredients needed for either of these DIY laundry soap recipes at my local Kroger Store or Walmart, in the laundry aisle.

All in all, these ingredients should cost you less than $10, and a lot of them will make you multiple batches of laundry soap. For convenience sake, you can find all these ingredients on Amazon, but they are cheaper at your local store.

Not all essential oils are created equally. I trust doTERRA quality and sourcing and know I’m getting natural, safe products. Want to save 25% on doTERRA essential oils AND get free products? This is how I get my essential oils. Grab this starter kit that includes my Top 10 Favorite Essential oils (including Lemon, On Guard!). Learn more HERE.

Try making your own laundry soap and you’ll love it! It smells really good but doesn’t leave a harsh scent on your clothes. I hope you enjoy saving money with this homemade laundry soap!

No time or desire to make homemade laundry detergent?

I love this awesome non-toxic laundry detergent. Smells amazing, works well, and made from sustainable natural-based sources. Color safe, free of synthetic fragrance, dyes, and toxins. I even use it as a stain remover by applying it directly onto the stain before washing. Learn more about it here. Or you can go HERE to this shopping cart and purchase it, and if you want to get lots of safe and natural products at wholesale pricing, select “become a wholesale member” and pay just $35 to get that discounted pricing AND you’ll be able to get FREE products AND a bunch of great education and support from my team!

More DIY Laundry Projects:

Now that you have your own DIY laundry detergent, you can try out these other DIY ideas:

I can’t believe it finally happened; I ran out of laundry detergent. In an effort to live a simpler life, I made my own homemade laundry detergent for just pennies. I haven’t bought any laundry detergent for a while, since I have gotten several bottles and packs of laundry detergent to review and giveaway. And now I have run out. It is way too rainy today to go outside and spend money on something I wash down the drain. Here are the ingredients I use for a great and powerful homemade laundry detergent.

Each ingredient in homemade laundry detergent has a different function.

Soap – The soap gives the detergent the cleaning power to clean the clothes. Other recommended brands to try are Fels Naptha, Zote or even a castile soap. I used Ivory, since this is what I had on hand.

Borax – Is a naturally occurring mineral and is used to act as a deodorizer and whitener in the detergent. Come back tomorrow to enter to win a box of Borax for FREE!

Washing Soda – This is specifically for washing and is not baking soda. Washing soda helps remove dirt and odors from the clothes.

Dawn Dish washing Liquid – This is awesome for a clothes pretreater for stains. It also acts as a degreaser to remove the oils from your skin left on clothes. If it can get oil off of ducks and marine life, it can get your oil out of your clothes. Click to read more about Dawn and using it in your Laundry.

Oxy Booster – This helps boost the laundry detergent to help fight stains and whitens clothes with out bleach. (optional)

Homemade Laundry Detergent

Ingredients for Homemade Laundry Detergent:

1/2 cup Borax (Check tomorrow for FREE Borax!)

1/2 cup Washing Soda

1 Bar Ivory Soap

1/4 Cup Dawn Dish Liquid (secret ingredient)

1/2 cup Oxi booster (secret ingredient, but optional)

Lots of water to fill large laundry detergent bottle

Directions how to make Homemade Laundry Detergent with Dawn

1. First shred 1 bar of soap. I used Ivory soap. This looks like yummy coconut when it is all shredded in the plate. I have had people ask if I use my cheese grater for this. Yes I do, then I put it in the dishwasher to clean it. It’s soap it washes off.

2. Add six cups of water into a pot on the stove. Put in the shredded soap and heat until the soap melts and dissolves completely in the water. This doesn’t take long.

3. Next add the washing soda, Borax, Dawn Dish Liquid and Oxi booster. Mix well until dissolved. (gently stir)

4. Pour four cups hot water into your stir pot. Then pour your soapy mixture in there and mix well. You can add about 20 drops of essential oil to make your clothes smell clean and fresh.

5. Now add around 20 cups of warm water to your mixture and mix well. Just enough to fill the laundry detergent container. Mine is for 96 loads. Let this set for 24 hours to set thoroughly. To use just pour about the same amount you normally would use when washing 1/2 cup – 1 Cup. I use the same measuring cup that came with the container.

Update: It seems people are having issues when adding the Oxy booster. I use the generic Oxy booster from Kroger and I have not had any issues with this foaming or bubbling. Also after you add the Oxy booster stir thoroughly, but try not to agitate the mix a lot.

That is homemade laundry detergent for just pennies a load. Before the wash shake the container a little to make sure the laundry detergent is mixed well. It tends to separate over time and might be a little watery if you don’t. This recipe is great if you have kids or a husband with a dirty job. This will tackle lots of stains to get really clean clothes every time.

Using just the first three ingredients will get you the basic homemade laundry detergent recipe. Add Dawn give a degreaser and added stain remover to this homemade laundry detergent. The oxy cleaner gives an added boost to the detergent for brightening the clothes.

How much did this cost me. Hard to say. The Ivory soap was FREE, both Boxes of Borax and washing soda were around $3.00, the Dawn was $0.50 for the bottle and the Oxy powder was around $3.00. This probably cost me less than $0.55 to make. This recipe is my own. I don’t think I have seen this particular recipe anywhere on the internet with both of my secret ingredients. Have you ever made homemade laundry detergent? If you make this recipe, let me know how you like it. Check out my homemade fabric softener recipe or how to make homemade fabric softener crystals to soften your clothes.

About Amy

Amy Greene has a passion for creating items from scratch. She created Mainly Homemade to inspire families to cook homemade meals and create homemade crafts to create lifelong family memories. Receive creative family memories in your inbox.

Comments

Hooray for being in the top 3! Thanks for the linky!