Homemade Laundry Detergent

We finally made our own laundry detergent. It was surprisingly easy. We used the recipe from The Simple Dollar. Not only is this going to save us quite a bit of money but the ingredients are not harmful for the environment. Unfortunately, the only brand of washing soda I could find was Arm & Hammer-they test on animals. The borax was manufactured by 20 Mule Team, or rather Dial and Henkel who also test on animals but are working towards alternatives. Check out my post here on them. At least I was able to find this lovely soap, Kirk's Original Coco Castile. They don't test and their soap smells wonderful!
Things you'll need-
1 c. Borax
1 1/2 c. Washing Soda
Bar of soap-Fels Naptha is specifically for laundry but we used castile soap
Bucket to make it in
Pot to dissolve the soap in


Here you go, my usual messiness at work and I've just never been able to open boxes the way they instruct you to. I always end up getting all brutal on it.

Here we go:
1.Bring about 4 cups of water to boil and shave or grate the bar of soap into the water. Let it simmer for a bit and melt all the way
2.Fill the bucket with 3 gallons of hot tap water
3.Mix in 1 1/2 c. washing soda and 1 c. borax
4. Mix in the soapy mixture from the pot
5.Stir it up and let it sit for 24 hours
Ours didn't gel up at first, and it is still just a mixture of glops and liquid but it works beautifully.
We use between 1/2c. and 1 c. depending on how nasty the laundry is.
This stuff is awesome, thanks Simple Dollar guy!