Real Recipes From Real Home Cooks ®

home made laundry detergent

(14 ratings)
Recipe by
Gina Sprenkel
Houston, TX

My brother's family of 4 came to live with us for over a year, and I wanted to lessen our laundry expenses and discovered making homemade liquid laundry soap. To my surprise, I love it more than store-bought detergent! No need for bleach, fabric softener, and our drain pipes love it, too! Quick and easy to make, and so economical!

(14 ratings)
yield serving(s)
prep time 10 Min
cook time 15 Min

Ingredients For home made laundry detergent

  • 1 c
    borax
  • 1 c
    arm & hammer super washing soda
  • 1/2 c
    shredded ivory soap
  • 1/2 c
    shredded pink zote soap
  • 30 c
    water

How To Make home made laundry detergent

  • 1
    Shred your Ivory soap, and Shred your Pink Zote soap...keep them separate. Do NOT mash the soap into a measuring cup. Keep the shreds fluffy, so they will melt more easily. 1/2 cup will be about half of what you grated...or will be equivalent to a nice mound in the cup of your hand.
  • 2
    Put 4 cups water into a pot on stove. Add Borax, Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda (this is NOT baking soda - you will find this in the laundry aisle at your grocery store, Walmart, or a hardware store), shredded Ivory soap, shredded pink Zote. Stir continually over medium heat until all soap is completely dissolved.
  • 3
    In a 2-gallon plastic container, add 8 cups of hot tap water, then add the soap mixture from the pot and stir together. Add 18 more cups of hot water. Stir.
  • 4
    Cover with plastic lid (I use a 2-gallon bucket from Home Depot. The extra large Tupperware bowl can also work.) Let sit 24 hours, and keep the lid on it the entire time.
  • 5
    After 24 hours, the liquid will be a runny gel. Some hardened soap-like pieces may float to the top - discard them. Stir the liquid gel. Your soap is ready. Use 1/2 cup - or a regular liquid detergent lid.
  • 6
    This soap will not be sudsy - but, your pipes will love you, and your laundry will be clean and fresh.

Categories & Tags for Home Made LAUNDRY DETERGENT:

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