Homemade Laundry Detergent

My wife and I have been watching a show about The Duggar Family, who when it was recorded had 17 children, now they have 19! They are really thrifty (gotta be to take care of all those kids =P ), so on one episode they were showing how they made their own laundry detergent for really cheap! My wife and I wanted to try it out, so last night, that's what we did. =)


Here is the recipe:


4 Cups - hot tap water

1 Fels-Naptha soap bar

1 Cup - Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda*

½ Cup Borax

- Grate bar of soap and add to saucepan with water.

-Stir continually over medium-low heat until soap dissolves and is melted.

-Fill a 5 gallon bucket half full of hot tap water. Add melted soap, washing soda and Borax. Stir well until all powder is dissolved. Fill bucket to top with more hot water. Stir, cover and let sit overnight to thicken.

-Stir and fill a used, clean, laundry soap dispenser half full with soap and then fill rest of way with water. Shake before each use. (will gel)

-Optional: You can add 10-15 drops of essential oil per 2 gallons. Add once soap has cooled. Ideas: lavender, rosemary, tea tree oil.

-Yield: Liquid soap recipe makes 10 gallons.

-Top Load Machine- 5/8 Cup per load (Approx. 180 loads)

-Front Load Machines- ¼ Cup per load (Approx. 640 loads)

*Arm & Hammer "Super Washing Soda" - in some stores or may be purchased online here (at Meijer.com). Baking Soda will not work, nor will Arm & Hammer Detergent - It must be sodium carbonate!!

We just washed a load of laundry with it today and it works great! It may be hard to find some of the ingredients so the Duggar's have included links to sites where they buy theirs. I found everything I needed at Harris Teeter.

Here was the cost of each item at Harris Teeter:
Borax $4.75 (it's $1.25 cheaper at Walmart)
Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda $2.95
Fels-Naptha Soap Bar $1.39

Considering that this yields 10 gallons and you only use a little of the Borax and A&H SWS, you'll have plenty of those to last several more buckets full. So it's practically dirt cheap!!! I even got the bucket free from the Hardee's I used to work at =P (it's one of the buckets they get pickles in, had to wash it a couple of times to get the smell out).

We also made some of this with my parents! They love watching the Duggar's, actually they are the ones that got me started ^_^ I like watching the show because of their Christian values, and a lot of their beliefs are similar to my own. Who knows, the Lord may bless us with 19 kids =P

If you visit their site they have more of their favorite recipes you can use! My parents had made the Tater Tot Casserole from their site, and it was delicious!!!