Homemade Laundry Detergent
Cleanliness is next to godliness. But many commercial laundry soaps contain numerous chemicals found to be dangerous to humans and the environment. Dangerous chemicals, to the best of our knowledge, are not close to godliness.
Thankfully, we have a homemade laundry soap that you’re going to love. It uses gentle, naturally-occurring ingredients, which won’t pollute our waterways or our homes with toxic substances. Many grocery stores have these ingredients in their laundry aisles — they cost no more than ten dollars. The soap takes less than fifteen minutes to make.
This can completely replace store-bought detergents in your home. Use it for everything, even infant laundry and cloth diapers. We have never seen it irritate sensitive, newborn skin, so you can feel comfortable replacing your infant laundry soap with this recipe.
Use 1/4 – 1/2 cup for a large load of laundry. A family of six can easily whip up a batch and be set for three months or so — and thereby be well on their way to godliness, or, at least, to less toxic clothing. Happy washing!
What You Need
• Fels-Naptha laundry bar
• 20-Mule Team Borax detergent booster (one 65 oz box)
• Arm & Hammer super washing soda (one 55 oz box)
• Large bucket or small tote
• Blender
• Cutting board
• Knife
What You Do
1. Place the bar of Fels-Naptha onto the cutting board and cut into small pieces. You may grate it if you wish, or just cut it with a knife, as if you were cutting butter into flour to make a pie crust.
2. Put the cut-up soap into the blender and pulse until the soap has a more sand-like consistency. It’s okay if you have some pea-sized clumps.
3. Transfer the blended soap into a large bowl or bucket. Slowly pour in the Borax and washing soda, and mix all together with a spoon or by hand. Pouring slowly will help cut down on the soap “dust” floating in the air that can be inhaled.
4. Store in bucket / tote. Wash your hands and rinse the blender well.
