Making your own natural laundry soap is a great way to save money and become more self-reliant.
The great part is that it’s easy to do and doesn’t cost much! In fact, you can make a year supply of laundry soap for under $20 with a little bit of searching and 5 minutes of mixing time. Here are some things you’ll need:
Fels Naptha Soap. This brand of soap has been around for decades and has proven itself as a reliable cleaning agent. You can usually find it in your laundry aisle at most local grocery stores. You can also use Ivory soap if that’s more readily available.
The other great thing about Fels Naptha is that you can use it for other purposes like treating exposure to poison ivy, poison ivy or other skin-irritants. Washing the area with a very small amount of Fels Naptha will breakdown the oils that carry the toxin. However, using the soap has been known to cause irritation to people’s skin.
You can buy a typical bar of Fels Naptha soap online for $1.99 or so. Usually, you’ll be able to find it cheaper in the stores though.
Price: $1.99
Washing Soda. Not to be confused with baking soda, washing soda, or soda ash; is a white powder that is used to remove dirt and odors. Arm & Hammer makes a high-quality washing soda that can usually be found in your local laundry aisle.
You can also make your own washing soda. Pure baking soda has a chemical makeup of NaHCO3 (1 sodium, 1 hydrogen, 1 carbon and 3 oxygen molecules). When heated to high temperatures, it breaks down to become Na2CO3 (2 sodium, 1 carbon, and 3 oxygen molecules). All you have to do is spread baking soda on a pan and bake it at 400 degrees for about a half hour. Stir it occasionally until you can tell a change has occurred. Baking soda is more powdery and clumpy like small salt crystals. You’ll be able to tell it changed when it becomes dull in color, opaque and is separated into grains.
Price: $2.99
Borax. Borax is a naturally occurring mineral that is great for whitening and deodorizing. One of the most popular kinds of borax is made by 20 Mule Team and usually comes in 76 oz. boxes.
Borax is a little harder to come by compared to the other two ingredients. However, you can usually find it with a little searching.
Borax can also be used for cleaning pots and pans, cleaning carpets, bathrooms and more!
Price: $5.99
Total Cost: $10.97
Combining the Ingredients
After you collect the ingredients, combine all the ingredients in large resealable bucket. Combine:
• 3 Bars of Fels Naptha Soap (grated)
• 1 Box of Washing Soda
• 1 Box of Borax
You can also add essential oils like lavender to add a bit of good smell to the mixture.
The mixture will make a large amount of laundry soap that will last about a year. When you toss in your wash, throw in 1 tbsp of the mixture into the mix or 2 tbsp for large loads. From the breakdown of the costs above, that’s about $0.03 a day for your wash! That’s pretty good!
The soap works just as well as other laundry soaps for everyday laundry washing. If you have a particularly stinky or dirty piece of clothing, you might need to add some laundry boost. But we’ve found that using this recipe keeps our clothes clean and fresh!
Written by Jonathan Dick
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I’ve made this exact recipe (smaller measurements) and I think it works better than commercial stuff. If you need to get rid of stains soak the cleaner onto the stain by moistening the stain and the detergent.
1–you priced one bar and then used 3 in your recipe–confusing.
2–I use Zote bar with washing sodas and Borax.
3–I do sacrifice whiteness using this recipe–but, my elastics and clothes don’t suffer; undies, socks, shirts, etc. last much longer
4–I use 1/4 cup for each load
Still so much cheaper than most brands. I just mixed a new batch.
I am curious what size are the boxes of washing soda and borax? I am wanting to make my own laundry soap however with the prices you are showing I am thinking the size of boxes we have available here are much larger than you used.
Thank You Jenn