Homemade Laundry Soap

Laundry detergent was one thing we had to make a change on after we had 4 kids. Between crib sheets, cloth diapers, and regular ol' clothes, I do upwards of 3 loads per day some days! This sure adds up fast when you are buying commercially made name brand laundry soap. Not to mention all the synthetic chemicals that are being absorbed and inhaled from use. Your skin is the largest organ on your body. Because of the skins super absorbent properties it easily allows the toxic chemicals in the soap and dryer sheets to be absorbed into your skin and into your blood stream! I know I personally would never inject these chemicals into any other of my vital organs so why am I rubbing them all over my skin?! With my sons special needs I knew I sure didn't want to make life any harder on their little bodies then I needed too. The big man of the house wasn't a fan at first until we added the scented Epson salt. He felt like the clothes didn't smell "fresh." The addition of scent has made him a total believer in the cause.

In our house we use the following recipe:

1 cup Arm and Hammer Washing Soda
1 cup Borax
1 cup oxygenated bleach
1 bar Fals-Naptha

(optional)
1/2 cup Epson salt with 20 drops favorite essential oil (or Purex scent crystals are 98% natural for everyone who isn't so die hard about the natural.)


I grate the bar of soap the old fashioned way on our cheese grater, but I know plenty of people who use their food processors as a short cut. Then mix everything together and store in an air tight container, as to not let moisture in. I use about 2 tbs per large load (we only run our washing machine on the heaviest setting full to the top to save energy and save a little off our electric bill), 1 tbs for medium loads, 1/2 tbs for small loads.

I was semi-weirded out by the fact it looks like soap smelling cheese with powder but I am now in love.

I find our clothes take less time to dry (we line dry/hang to dry), and if dried in the dryer produce less lint. I think they smell clean and not necessarily "perfumey."

If you are trying to go green, this was our first step!