Recipe For A Simple Life

Simplify your life, one day at a time

Homemade Laundry Soap

on March 6, 2012

I’ve been making my own laundry detergent for a little while now.  However, I’m tired of measuring out a little of this and a little of that, so I decided since I have full boxes of the ingredients, why not just figure out the recipe if I’d just dump the entire boxes of the ingredients 😀  So, here’s what I found out…

1-76oz box of Borax is about 13 cups.

1-56oz box of Washing Soda is about 6 cups

I need equal parts to make a batch according to a recipe I found.  I’m ok with calling it even if I just use 2 boxes of Washing Soda 😀

So, here’s my recipe…

1 box of Borax

2 boxes of Washing Soda – NOT baking soda!

3 bars of soap – Fels-Naptha or Kirk’s, finely shredded using a cheese grater.  I found Kirk’s grates easier than Fels-Naptha.  I used 2 Kirk’s and 1 Fals-Naptha for this particular batch.  If it works well, I’ll switch to just Kirk’s since it was easier to grate and has a less “soapy” smell to it – it doesn’t irritate my nose as I grate it 😀

1 T. per load is all you need!  Not going to lie, we do bigger loads, so I just use a bit less than 1/8 cup.  😀

And there you have it.  No additives or extra ingredients in your laundry soap.  If you want a fragrant laundry detergent, I’d just add a drop or two of essential oils, like lavendar.

Do you make your own laundry detergent?  Share your recipe!


4 responses to “Homemade Laundry Soap

  1. Katie Sulzle says:

    Where did you buy the Kirk’s soap? Fels-Naptha was a pain to grate when I tried it. Thanks for the “large batch” recipe.

    • Carrie says:

      Katie – I got Kirk’s at Hy-Vee Hilltop. Not the cheapest I’ve seen it, but I didn’t see it at Cub Foods and I didn’t want to wait to order it online. I really hope Kirk’s works well, because it was very easy to grate compared to Fels-Naptha. And smells better if you ask me 😀

  2. Josie says:

    I’m just starting to make our own, too. I have to double check, but I’m pretty sure it’s the same recipe. 🙂

  3. Andy says:

    THANK YOU for this! Chris and I are going to make our own soap (once we run out of what we have right now) and I was looking for a reliable source to have a recipe. wOOt!

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