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DIY Homemade Laundry Detergent

By Kim Layton 27 Comments

DIY Homemade Laundry Detergent on EverythingEtsy.com

Do you get tired of spending a fortune buying laundry detergent and never really knowing what’s in it?  Homemade laundry detergent will change your world!  It smells amazing, costs pennies a load, and it’s super easy to make…I love it!

DIY Homemade Laundry Detergent

It even looks pretty in a nice glass jar!  Washing clothes never looked so good!

Now you know you want to make some for yourself, right?  Since you are all such nice blog friends, I’ll show you how I did it!

homemade laundry detergent

The simple supplies:

  • 1 bar of Fels Naptha
  • 1 cup of Borax
  • 1 cup washing soda

Tip: All the supplies were purchased from a grocery store. You might need to check a couple of your local stores before you find the Fels Naptha. It’s only about a dollar per bar…wow!

– Shred one bar of Fels Naptha…doesn’t it look beautiful?  You will notice your whole house starting to smell fabulous while you are shredding it!

– Add one cup of Borax.

– Add one cup of washing soda.

– Mix it up!

Laundry detergent mix

That’s it!  Now just add it to a beautiful jar and you’re ready to wash all your clothes with this great smelling homemade laundry detergent!

Add a couple tablespoons to each load for fresh smelling clothes.  You can adjust the amount according to your needs.

I did a video on it…Homemade Laundry Soap on Handmade and Craft.  You can also see parts of my new craft area in the video.  I had to have a spot for all those crafty books I’ve been collecting…lol!

Homemade Laundry Detergent Recipe on EverythingEtsy.com

Enjoy your beautiful homemade laundry detergent! 

Happy Washing!

~Kim

Oh, and since some of this stuff can be hard to find, here are some quick and easy amazon links. I have Amazon Prime so which takes care of all the shipping cost making it so effortless to get the right ingredients.

Square Jar with Blue Lid
shop now
Fels-Naptha
shop now
shop now
4-Sided Grater
shop now
shop now
shop now

Looking for more DIY projects…check out our project gallery for tons of tutorials!

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Filed Under: Tutorials Tagged With: clothes, diy, Handmade, homemade, laundry, laundry detergent, laundry soap, soap, Tutorial, washing powder

Comments

  1. Lori B says

    January 9, 2013 at 1:45 pm

    I’ved used the same recipe for years, but can’t find Fels Naptha here in Ontario. I substitute plain ol’ Ivory and it works beautifully!

    Reply
    • Kim Layton says

      January 9, 2013 at 2:03 pm

      Lori – That’s great to know! Thanks for the tip! Ivory can be used for so many things. The Fels Naptha was the hardest part to find. You can order it from Amazon, but I think you have to order more bars at once.

      ~Kim

      Reply
  2. Laurie Olsen says

    January 9, 2013 at 9:04 pm

    What is washing soda? I can find the other ingredients but that….could use some help!

    Reply
  3. Amy says

    January 9, 2013 at 10:02 pm

    I’ve been using homemade liquid detergent for the last year. I’ve saved a TON of money!

    Reply
  4. Shelley says

    January 10, 2013 at 12:17 am

    I love how homemade laundry detergent makes clothes so soft!

    Reply
  5. Megan says

    January 10, 2013 at 6:42 am

    Thanks for yet another great idea!

    Reply
  6. patti says

    January 10, 2013 at 7:00 am

    Hi Kim, I love the idea of making this, I even have all of the ingredients (bought at Walmart!) but I would like to know if anyone has used it in an HE machine?

    Reply
    • Beth says

      September 7, 2013 at 10:59 pm

      This is the original HE laundry soap, no problem at all for your machine. I also use an HE machine.

      Reply
  7. Nic says

    January 10, 2013 at 7:59 am

    Cool recipe! Do you know of its ok for kids clothes?

    Reply
    • Kim @ EverythingEtsy says

      January 25, 2013 at 6:07 pm

      I wash my kids clothes in it without any issues. 🙂

      ~Kim

      Reply
  8. Kay Kay says

    January 11, 2013 at 10:52 am

    I have used this recipe for quite some time, but I use Ivory Soap instead. I was having an issue of the soap clumping on my clothes though. I started using a smaller grader and after I combine all of the ingredients I stir them for about 2 minutes. The dryness of the borax and the washing soda breaks down the soap to almost a powder. Result: no clumping! I also add essential oils to mine to make it smell ever yummier!!

    Reply
    • beth says

      September 7, 2013 at 10:53 pm

      Just put the combined batch in food processor and it blends to a powder voila~

      I do it all the time with my batches.

      Reply
  9. Elizabeth says

    January 14, 2013 at 1:08 pm

    I went out on the weekend to gather all the ingredients but something doesn’t make sense to me …….

    It is written on the side of the box of Borax that 1/2 cup should be added to a regular load of laundry, to boost the cleaning power of the regular laundry soap.

    So …… if the recipe calls for 1 cup of Borax but you are only using 2 tablespoons of the mixture per load, the cleaning/boosting ability of the Borax must be negligible.

    How could this DIY possibly clean effectively? Something doesn’t add up. Call me confused.

    Reply
    • Kim @ EverythingEtsy says

      January 25, 2013 at 6:06 pm

      Hi Elizabeth,

      I’m not an expert by any means, but this is a pretty common laundry soap recipe. I’ve heard how well it works for lots and lots of people so I just went with that and I’m glad I did. I LOVE the fresh smell! I hope you’ll give it a try.

      ~Kim

      Reply
    • Jyn says

      February 2, 2013 at 7:45 pm

      …also may I add something? You will find with most purchasable items, that they ‘prefer’ you to use their product lines and larger amounts at times to boost their sales even though there are perfectly suitable substitutes. A report that came out recently showed that people use WAAAAAAAY too much detergent in their wash cycles (do a search on cloth diaper washing) and it can actually break down your cloth and/or build up on it causing it to absorb odors. Typically fabric softeners are the culprit of the build up, but detergent makers know this and actually take advantage of it. So hey- if it isn’t broken and it *works* dont worry! Your clothes will be getting clean, and if you worry that you dont have enough Borax or that it isnt doing the job… add more! 🙂

      Reply
      • Pati says

        August 11, 2013 at 8:12 am

        Yep..people use way to much soap and fabric softeners. I can smell them 1/4 mile away and it makes me sneeze. Why isn’t the smell of clean enough for some folks? To me it is odor pollution. It is really the water and agitation that does most of the work any how.
        I use a tiny bit in my HE machine. The clothes still get clean.

        Reply
    • Beth says

      September 7, 2013 at 11:14 pm

      I had to prove this amount to a friend of mine. We opened up one of her all chemical NAME BRAND laundry packs and measured the amount into a Tbsp, it measured 2Tbsp. 2 Tbsp WORKS~

      Reply
  10. JewJew says

    January 31, 2013 at 9:29 pm

    Will this soap dissolve in either warm or cold wash?

    Reply
    • Kim Layton says

      February 1, 2013 at 12:15 pm

      Yes, it does a great job in cold water…I use it all the time! 🙂 Great question!

      ~Kim

      Reply
  11. nicole says

    February 15, 2013 at 11:59 am

    Is it ok for front load HE washers?

    Reply
  12. Sharon says

    February 15, 2013 at 2:17 pm

    Has anyone tried this recipe to wash cloth diapers? I assume it’d be okay as there are so few ingredients…. but just in case! Thanks 🙂

    Reply
    • Beth says

      September 7, 2013 at 11:28 pm

      The Super Washing Soda, and Borax are laundry boosters. The Fels Naptha is a true laundry stain fighting soap, made since 1894 that’s 119 yrs~

      My Great grandmother was born in 1910, and all her life she used Fels. We were told when Tide came out in 1946, she wouldn’t touch that stuff.

      Reply
  13. Judith aquino says

    June 12, 2014 at 2:35 pm

    I have a question can I add any essential oil to the DIY laundry detergent ???

    Reply
  14. Judith aquino says

    June 12, 2014 at 2:35 pm

    I have a question can I add any essential oil to the DIY laundry detergent ???

    Reply
  15. golu dolls says

    August 15, 2018 at 8:12 am

    looking good

    Reply
  16. kanchipuram sarees says

    August 15, 2018 at 8:13 am

    nice post

    Reply
  17. Gau Teddy says

    August 7, 2019 at 8:41 am

    handmade washing powder – good creation . thank. i will try

    Reply
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