Name: Thrive! NCHE Homeschool Conference
Start: 2025-05-22T00:00:00-05:00
End: 2025-05-24T23:59:59-05:00
Location: Winston-Salem, NC

Tagged: Laundry detergent

This topic has 30 replies, 11 voices, and was last updated 11 years, 6 months ago by sheraz.

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October 28, 2013 at 10:51 pm
Paula Spicer
Participant
I made homemade laundry detergent this past week and it is very watery. Wondering if that’s normal. Don’t get me wrong, it is still gel, but not a solid gel. When I put my 1/2 cup in there, some of the gelled part sloshes out.
This is the recipe I used from the Family Homestead website.
whole bar of ivory grated
1/2 c washing soda
1/2 c borax
put soap in sauce pan, add 6 c water and let the soap melt.
add borax and washing soda, stir until dissolved. remove from heat
pour 4 c hot water in bucket, now add soap mixture and stir
add 1 gallon plus 6 c water and stir.
sit 24 hours.
I did this, just wondering if it should be so clumpy and watery.
October 28, 2013 at 10:58 pm
RobinP
Participant
I’ve made this detergent for years. Mine was watery the last time I made it as well…not gelled at all. This has never happened before. I can only guess that I left something out? I’m still using it. I make a 5 gallon bucket full so I’m not wasting it.
October 28, 2013 at 11:05 pm
MelissaB
Participant
That is how mine normally is too. When I go to stir it in my bucket at first, it’s a big glob of gel, but after I stir it, it’s watery/gelish like you described.
October 28, 2013 at 11:06 pm
Paula Spicer
Participant
thanks just wanted to double check. It was really simple. I was very surprised.
October 29, 2013 at 2:36 am
Sue
Participant
This recipe makes the whole process sound a lot less daunting than I expected. I might actually try making it myself!
I do, however, have a couple of questions. First, do you use a sauce pan dedicated just for detergent making? I know the soap wouldn’t hurt anything if you rinsed it very thoroughly, but I wondered about using it for cooking after you’ve had borax in it.
Also, the “bucket” you all are referring to, could that be one of those plastic buckets that have a handle on them, like from commercial laundry detergents or like pickle buckets from restaurants? I have a couple of those, one with a lid. Do you store your liquid detergent in the bucket or pour it into something else?
Finally, how many loads would you get out of a recipe like the one daybydaymama posted?
Sorry for all of the questions, but this is intriguing to me.
October 29, 2013 at 2:08 pm
MelissaB
Participant
Sue, I follow a slightly different recipe than above. The one I use is:
1 bar felsnaptha (found on the laundry aisle)
1 cup borax
1 cup washing soda
Grate the felsnaptha into a pan and fill will water. Heat water until felsnaptha is dissolved. Stir in borax and washing soda, mix until dissolved. Dump into a 5 gallon bucket and fill bucket up with hot water mixing as it fills. That is it – easy peasy. I let mine set for at least a few hours, but you can use it right away. Like mentioned above, it will be gelish when you first pull the lid off it, but just stir and it will incorporate into a water/gel mixture. Use 1/2 cup per load (or more if it’s really a dirty load). Note that this mixture doesn’t suds up so you can use it in any type of washer.
To answer your other questions. I use any kitchen pot and just run it through the dishwasher when I’m done. I have been doing it like this since I started making my own laundry soap which was at least 5 years ago. I suppose if you were worried you could use a dedicated pot, but I use my household cheese grater to grate the soap too. Since I’m using a 5 gallon bucket, I just bought a new one at Lowes and it came with a lid. I have no clue how many loads I get out of one batch since mine is about double what was posted. I have six people I wash for and I do 10-14 loads/week and it lasts me well over a month. I’ve never kept track, but I know I don’t make a batch once a month, it’s probably every 6 weeks or so, but that is just a guess.
October 29, 2013 at 4:22 pm
Paula Spicer
Participant
Has anyone tried this recipe, I found it last night. No water involved, just put it in a mason jar.
•1 bar (or 4.5 ounces) of shaved bar soap (Dr. Bronner’s, Ivory, ZOTE, Fels-Naptha)
•1 cup of borax
•1 cup of washing soda
Thoroughly stir together for 5 minutes.
Use 1 Tbsp per load (or 2-3 Tbsp for large or heavily soiled loads).
October 29, 2013 at 4:33 pm
sheraz
Participant
daybydaymama – I made the liquid version for a couple of years, but made the dry version this year with the recipe that you gave. LOVE IT. I will not go back to the liquid due to my time restraints and storage space. (I did use the 5 gallon bucket, etc…) My container holds four recipes and lasts quite a while.
I recently started adding about 6-10 drops of lemon essential oil to the washer when I do a load in place of any bleach at all. The lemon makes the clothes smell so clean and removes all traces of nasty smells like yucky towels and dishrags, dirty and muddy clothes. Lemon is an antibacterial and antiviral and acts as a cleaning agent that helps remove stains and grease.
October 29, 2013 at 4:59 pm
Kayla
Participant
I use a dry recipe, I usually do
1bar fels naptha
1c washing soda
1c borax
1c oxyclean
I make more than that at a time though. It is 1tbls per load and I usually add a little if the loads are bigger. Or if it is mostly my husbands landscaping clothes. I use it on cloth diapers, but in my opinion it doesn’t work great on them unless you are line drying/sunning them every time. If they are washing and then going into the dryer I need something stronger,
The only complaint I’ve received for my husband about it is that “his clothes don’t smell good” as in tey don’t smell like anything, just clean.
Also a testimonial! My dog has a thing for eating the ceotch of underware, even clean ones…since using tj homemade detergent he doesn’t eat clean ones any more. makes me wonder how clean tey were actually gettig with that really expensive orange bottle of detergent 🙂
October 29, 2013 at 5:29 pm
Sue
Participant
@MelissaB, thanks. That description (# people, # loads each week) was very helpful in figuring out how long the recipe would last. I don’t see myself mixing up batches of laundry detergent every two weeks or so; I like having big batches of things around to make life easier.
@Kayla, That is so funny about the dog. Maybe you could sell it for dog obedience training. “Want to keep your puppy from chewing on things? Spray on Kayla’s All-Natural Puppy Repellant!” LOL.
Sue
October 30, 2013 at 1:23 am
cherylramirez
Participant
@sheraz: do you have a front loading machine? if so, how do you add the oil?
October 30, 2013 at 1:37 am
sheraz
Participant
No, I don’t have a front loader. I just open the door (on top) and sprinkle in the oil on the metal tub part. It doesn’t stain, so it doesn’t hurt our clothes when I layer them on top. It washes through just fine.
Also, the clothes don’t smell like lemon when they are dried in the dryer – you would have to use lemon in the dryer too. That is another whole topic. =)
October 31, 2013 at 3:59 am
cdm2kk
Participant
I use the same recipe as Melissa B. I have invested about $20 and I am still using the same boxes…I have only had to buy more bar soap and I have used for over a year!! I was paying about $8-12 per container at the store that I would buy at least once a month. What a savings. I personally do not like the big ole buckets, so I saved 5 of the containers from the store and I fill them up once my soap is made. I didn’t like the clumpy gel uch, so I grabbed my hand mixer and whipped it up and then funneledit into the containers and whipping as I made it down thru the bucket. Once whipped, it stays fairly creamy and not runny watery and clumpy. HTH
To help clothes smell “fresh”, I purchased a bottle of Downey, the expensive sweet smelling kind (with all my money savings above, I couuld now afford a bottle!!) and I take a dish cloth that is reserved for this purpose and I soak it in the downy and wring it out and hang it up in front of my a/c return and then the whole house smells soooooo good, but once it is dry, I throw it in the dryer as a dryer sheet. You can use it up to 20 or more times. It makes the clothes come out so nice and soft and my Downy bottle will last more than 2 years. My dryer has not gotten a film in it or anything like you hear from the throw away sheets. Just thought I would share…

Channa
October 31, 2013 at 4:22 am
TailorMade
Participant
Ok, ok. I’m convinced. This will be a project for next week. Can’t wait to save $ while doing laundry for the seven of us.
October 31, 2013 at 12:33 pm
amama5
Participant
My recipe doesn’t add the borax/soda to the pan, it goes into the bucket after filling half full with hot water. Then I stir and fill the rest of the way with hot water. It sits for a long time, but never gets thick as normal detergent. Then I pour it into milk jugs, old laundry containers, juice bottles etc. I use a special cheese grater/pan because I don’t like FelsNaptha on anything I’m going to cook with. Here is my recipe if you wanted to look at it:http://theurbanfarmingguys.com/diy-laundry-soap-20-cents-a-gallon
The original recipe makes 10 gallons, I only have one 5 gallon bucket so I half it, you could do the whole thing since you have the buckets.
I made the dry version once and it only lasted about 2 weeks, the liquid lasts me about 2 or 3 months, washing about 8 loads a week for 8 people. So until we have storage issues, I’ll be doing the liquid.