I finally did it I made my own laundry soap. I have to say it is something I will keep on making if I am unable to get the store products for next to nothing.
You will find the recipes I used in the video listed here.
My son Josh is once again giving me a hard time. Here is some behind the scenes footage. LOL! 
Have you ever made you own laundry soap? Did you like it? Do you have any tips to share? If so share them in the comments.
Article by Cindy
Cindy has written 4981 awesome article(s) for us.
Like me on Facebook:
Please share this with your family and friends. Thank You.
Never miss a deal! Subscribe to HappyHomemakerCindy via RSS or via e-mail.
{ 13 comments… read them below or add one }
I have made this exact recipe, it works great. I prefer to buy cheap laundry soap..lol Grating the soap, got to be a pain…
I used to make it using Fels Naptha instead of Ivory and using 1 cup of each Borax, Washing Soda and Fels Naptha. It worked really well! I had problems with Ivory dissolving in cold water, but no problems with the Fels Naptha. I decided I preferred liquid detergent over powered, but was too lazy to make the liquid so I switched back to store bought. Cheap and effective though!
I have used this exact recipe for 2, maybe 3 years. We are a family of 7 on one income. Our 5 GREAT kids and we two adults have no end of laundry. I make this twice a year for WAY less than $10. The borax and washing soda lasted me 2 years–I gave a TON away to people to try and gave them the borax and washing soda so they could buy the $1.39 bar of fels-naptha. Our clothing is clean and fresh. Unless I could get laundry soap for FREE, I wouldn’t buy any, just make my own. This has saved our family a TON of money and is really rather easy and quick to make.
I use the liquid, i tried the powder but found it left my clothes kind of dingy looking.
It takes me less than 30 min to make a 5 gallon bucket of the liquid and it lasts me a couple weeks. There are 5 of us in our family.
I make it on a night I know I won’t be washing clothes the next day so it has the 24 hours to sit. I usually keep 1 or 2 of the store bought kind aside just incase I run out and need to wash clothes.
I love it, Doesn’t take a lot of time and its soo cheap and works really well.
I have a front load HE washer and dryer. For fabric Softener ~ I love the sponge idea, but what I do is buy (with coupons) my favorite softener, fill an empty softner container with vinegar and use just 1 cap of fabric softner dumped into the vinegar. No vinegar smell on my clothes and soft as can be.
I do the liquid detergent – 1 bar of Fels Naptha, 1.5 C Borax, 1.5 C Washing Soda. I cut the soap up into a few pieces, I don’t have time or patience for grating it. I put it in a large pot with a few cups of water, melt the soap, add the powders, fill my pot (probably an 8 qt pot) up with water to mix it all, dump that into a 4 Gallon cleaned out kitty litter container, fill up with water and stir and it’s ready to go! No need to leave it set over night. It will gel up. I just stir it up with an old spatula and use 1/3 C per load of laundry.
Is it good for use in HE-type washers?
I have tried both the powdered and liquid, as well as, used Fels Naptha, Ivory, and Castille bar soaps. I prefer using either Fels Naptha or Castille and I prefer the liquid method. I use the Duggar’s recipe also. I have an old style hand-crank grater shredder that I now use to grate the soap before I put it in the sauce pan to melt. This last time, I made 2 five-gallon buckets and it lasts a long, long time. I also fill up 5 old laundry detergent bottles at a time; I find this helps to not discouraged.
And, to answer the question regarding using it in an HE washing machine – yes, it can be used in an HE machine. That’s what we have. And, I love the fresh, clean scent.
I’m trying the liquid recipe for the first time today… but i only had a 3.5 gal bucket instead of a 5 gal bucket so we will see how it works. But I am really excited and hope this will save my husband and I a ton of money!!
I love your website, but tonight when I tried to click on the link for your washing detergent recipe, it said the site was “broken”, but gave me a link to the Duggar family who has tons of kids. They have a recipe, and I don’t know if it’s the same one you are talking about or not. Please advise. Thanks!
I have a couple questions regarding the fabric softener. Once you make up the batch, how long does it keep for and do you leave the sponges in there until you need them, or just dunk them in,let them absorb the liquid,and then pull them out? Soory- I want to try this, just was not sure how long the liquid is good for. Thanks Cindy!!
Joan that is the recipe I used.
I made very small batches of it and yes I kept the sponges in the container until I used them and threw them back in after they came out of the dryer.
I’ve made the liquid version several times and you can add some oil scented extract to give it a good smell and it still works great