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Home » DIY Laundry Soap

DIY Laundry Soap

Mar 14, 2013 · 13 Comments

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Make your own laundry soap and save money in the process.  This easy to make recipe for homemade laundry soap will do the job of your regular detergent, last longer (up to a year,) and cost under $25.

DIY Laundry Soap

I realize that laundry soap is not a recipe for consumption but I have to share this one with you. For awhile now, I have been trying to find a homemade laundry soap recipe that is GOOD and not only cleans clothes but gets stains out too. I’ve read numerous blogs on this topic along with the hundreds of comments from those that have tried said soaps. Some were too complicated and even had some ingredients that I wasn’t wanting to use or I would just use what I already am. Some weren’t very cost friendly for the amount of product it made and a few were just, well…out there in la-la land.

Then I came across one from How Does She and I was interested for several reasons. The first being, it didn’t use the Fels Naptha bars of soap. I read some not so good things about that particular brand. Next, it contained a fabric softener and Oxyclean. Last, it will make enough to last a long, long time.

The hardest part of this whole process was hand grating the bars of soap. I tried to do it my mini food processor but it just clumped together. I thought about using my Ninja blender and when I called the customer service dept for it, they advised against it as it wouldn’t grate it the way I wanted it and may even ruin the machine. So, out came the box grater and I spent  30 min grating the bars. After that, I got myself a 5-gallon bucket and layered some of each of the ingredients till they were all used and then used a huge wooden spoon to mix it all thoroughly. I only used 1 and a half bottles of the Purex crystals (use to suit your needs.)  Done! I poured some of the soap into the clear plastic container so that it would be easier to use. Stored the 5 gallon bucket in the garage.

While I didn’t think to take pictures along the way, you can view the process on the website I got the recipe from, How Does She.  Clean clothes with a laundry soap that works, is key but saving money too, is even better.

To use, you only need 2 tablespoons per load. Yes, just 2 tablespoons and the scoop that came with the Oxyclean has a perfect measurement for 2 tablespoons on it. I have used 3 on heavy or larger loads.  I spent a total of $25 on all of the products and it filled the 5-gallon bucket little more than halfway. I figured if it didn’t work, I wasn’t out that much.

I set off to do my laundry and after 3 loads of coloreds and 1 load of whites, I was VERY pleased with the results. My husband has been coming home from the gym with stinky and sweaty clothes and I was concerned that they may not come clean or smell good. No worries! I did the smelling of the armpits of the shirts (very hesitantly too) and I was amazed…the shirts smelled so clean and fresh. The whites were clean and even stains on the dishtowels came out. It seems to get fresh stains out better than if they sat a day or two but that’s really how any detergent works.  I just use my baking soda/peroxide/dawn dish soap combo to pre-treat and life is good! We do a lot of laundry for the four of us so one batch usually lasts us about 9 – 10 months – yes that long!

Here is the list of products and amounts for the laundry soap I used:

DIY Laundry Soap

Make your own laundry soap and save money in the process.  This easy to make recipe for homemade laundry soap will do the job of your regular detergent, last longer (up to a year,) and cost under $25.
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Author: Lisa Kerhin

Ingredients

  • 1 4 lb 12 oz box Borax
  • 1 3 lb 7 oz box Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda
  • 1 3 lb container unscented OxyClean
  • 2 14.1 oz bars Pink Zote Soap (I chose to do pink for the scent but the white would be just fine)
  • 1 4 lb box Arm & Hammer Baking Soda
  • 1-2 55 oz bottles Purex Crystals Fabric Softener (This is optional but adding the amount that I did, didn't leave a perfume smell and the towels were soft, too)

Instructions

  • Grate Zote soap with cheese grater or food processor. (**Update: readers have told me about the already grated Zote soap flakes and one box is equal to 2 bars - only comes in white but I love it.)
  • Mix all ingredients together in a large bucket. I layer some of each of the products and mix as I go, makes the mixing process a little easier.
  • Use 2 -4 Tablespoons per laundry load, depending on the size of the loads. I use 2 Tablespoons and it works great.

Enjoy!

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DIY Arm and Hammer, Borax, DIY, laundry soap, Purex, saving money, Zote

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Comments

  1. Anonymous says

    October 13, 2013 at 6:18 PM

    Just a tip as I make my own detergent, a box of zote laundry flakes is less hassle than grating a bar of soap. 🙂

    Reply
    • Lisa @ Blogghetti says

      October 13, 2013 at 9:46 PM

      I’ve yet to see the box of flakes….I know they exist just can’t seem to find them. My Walmart and Kroger do not carry them. I am gonna hunt them down now lol. Thanks for stopping by!! 🙂

      Reply
    • Anonymous says

      December 5, 2013 at 4:46 PM

      Check out your local 99 cent store

      Reply
  2. Tina Pruette says

    January 2, 2014 at 11:56 PM

    If you still can’t find the flakes trying microwaving the soap. it will crumble really easily.

    Reply
    • Lisa @ Blogghetti says

      January 3, 2014 at 12:04 AM

      Great tip Tina! Thanks. I found the flakes, however; I prefer the pink soap and all I found was the plain white flakes. I am going to try the microwave tip next time.

      Reply
  3. Anonymous says

    January 30, 2014 at 4:56 PM

    Thanks for your tips. The last two times I have grated the soap my knuckles have been sliced also. Not fun!

    Reply
  4. PGYSUE says

    March 4, 2014 at 11:31 AM

    I made this last February and am still using that batch, probably have enough for another month! Do the math about $30.00 for 13 months, that’s less than $3.00 a month!

    Reply
    • Lisa @ Blogghetti says

      March 4, 2014 at 3:06 PM

      Oh my goodness PGYSUE, that’s awesome!! Love it! How big is your family and how many loads of laundry do you do a week?

      Reply
  5. Anonymous says

    March 22, 2014 at 11:39 PM

    I made this last September, family of 4. The hubster cycles to work, teens in sports, so we’re active = lots of laundry. We do between 15-20 loads a week & are just now getting down to our last couple inches in our giant jar. You use so little it’ll probably last me another month or two but I didn’t write the recipe down so have been looking for it today. We used this one with the lavender fabric softener beads. Thanks for posting it, I’ll write it down this time- worthy experiment for our fam!

    Reply
  6. Anonymous says

    September 15, 2014 at 5:47 PM

    Can this be used in an High efficiency washer?

    Reply
    • Anonymous says

      October 16, 2014 at 4:17 AM

      I’ve been using this for over a year now in my HE washer and haven’t experienced any problems. It’s low sudsing and works in any temperature.

      Reply
  7. Renita Richardson says

    October 11, 2015 at 8:21 PM

    I made this yesterday and started using right away and so far I love it. I did add oxyclean to mine.

    Reply
    • Lisa says

      October 12, 2015 at 11:03 AM

      Renita, I love it and glad you are loving it so far too! Thanks for stopping by to tell us!

      Reply

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