Saturday, April 28, 2012

Homemade Powdered Laundry Detergent

You might remember a while back when I posted how to make your own Homemade Laundry Soap.  You can find that link HERE.  I have used that recipe for about a year and a half, and I love it!  However, I was interested to try a homemade powdered detergent, and that is what I'm going to share with you today.  The powdered detergent is less time consuming but is still a big money saver!  It uses the same ingredients as the liquid version.  Here is what you will need.

1 cup of Borax, 1 cup of Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda, and 1 bar of Fels-Naptha.  You can also use Zote, Dr. Bonner's, or Ivory Soap.  I prefer the Fels-Naptha because I like the scent.

If you aren't sure what the Borax and Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda looks like, here are pictures.  You can find these products at Ace Hardware (that's where I get mine) or any other hardware store.  I also get the Fels-Naptha from Ace.



The first thing you want to do is to grate your bar of soap.  I prefer to use the grater attachment on my KitchenAid, but you can also grate the soap by hand.  I grated mine by hand this time.  Bonus: calories burned! ;) 

This is how much one bar of soap is grated.


Next, pour in 1 cup of Borax and 1 cup of Super Washing Soda.


Lastly, you need to stir it up really well so that the soap and the powders are mixed together.  Then just put it in a container.  You could put it in a tupperware container, a ziplock bag, or a glass jar.  I put mine in a glass jar I had on hand.


You only need 1 Tablespoon per load, so this will actually last you for quite a while.  I use 2 Tablespoons for tougher loads, like Adam's hockey clothes.  Yuck! :)  The amount in this recipe will probably last me about a month and a half to 2 months or so.  Next time I make this, I will double the recipe so that it will last me longer. Better to get all that soap grating done at once! You can work out both arms! :)  Haha.  I hope you found this recipe helpful, and I hope it saves you money! 

6 comments:

  1. I had made a batch of this a while ago. I actually found all the ingredients at Walmart! I used a bigger size grater and it didn't mix as well as yours :(

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  2. Awesome, that's good to know that they have this stuff too! Mine doesn't always stay so well mixed, but as long as you scoop up a fairly equal amount of soap flakes and powder into each tablespoon, it probably doesn't matter too much.

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  3. I run mine through the food processor to make it extra fine.

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  4. That's a good idea, Leanne. I made a double batch today. I shredded the soap with my attachment for my Kitchenaid mixer, and the soap was a lot more fine. Then I used the mixer to mix the soap together with the Borax and Washing Soda instead of mixing it by hand. It did a lot better job than I did.

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  5. my bar of ZOTE soap is 14.1 oz. how much of it will i need to shred to make my detergent?

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    1. My Fels Naptha bar is 5 and 1/2 oz, and it makes one batch. So you could either just use about 1/3 of your bar and make one batch, or you could use the whole bar and make 3 batches at once, which is what I would do. So you would use the whole bar, 3 cups of Borax, and 3 cups of Super Washing Soda. Hope this helps! :)

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