I want to update you on how easy and economical it is to make homemade laundry soap! It smells delightfully fresh and clean! I always leave the lid off the container to inhale the wonderful fragrance whenever I walk through the laundry room.
Every time I make it, I feel thrifty and virtuous! Each batch lasts a long time, works great, and is super economical to make! It makes enough for about 300 loads of wash! That's what I call a win-win-win!
Our laundry comes out soft and fragrant without any additives or fabric softener. The mixture is highly concentrated, so I only need two tablespoons to do an entire load of laundry.
If I ever have stains and need to pretreat, I have another concoction I mix up! I'll share that recipe with you here, too! I'm updating the recipe with current Walmart prices and new product weights today.
Here are the ingredients to make a giant batch of homemade laundry detergent. You will need a very large bowl or bucket to mix all the ingredients and a big spoon! I use my food processor to pulverize the soap bars, but you can also use a grater. The soap dissolves rapidly in the washing machine.
Homemade laundry soap has become more popular, and at times, I have to shop in more than one place to round up all the ingredients. The day I made this batch, I could only get an extra-large container of Oxi Clean, so I will use what's left over to presoak white socks!
If you can't find Fels-Naptha bars, Zote bar soap comes in a much bigger bar and works well. The Zote bars are bigger, so you only need one bar instead of three.
Opinions on which soap is better differ widely. (Strong enough it's been described as the "bar fights!")
I prefer Fels-Naptha because it has superior cleaning ability. However, it can depend on the water where you live. I keep a bar of each in the laundry room cupboard, and when I want to pretreat a stain, I dip the bar in water and rub it into the stain.
Fels-Naptha works better on dirt, grass, makeup, a ring around the collar, and sweat. It has saved many pairs of white baseball uniform pants.
Zote is easier on delicate fabrics and somewhat better on grease and oil.
Begin by grating or pulverizing the soap bars. Sometimes, the soap bars are quite fresh and soft; other times, they will be drier and harder. It depends on how long they have been on the grocer's shelves. I cut each soap bar into cubes and put them in the food processor with the blade.
That day, the soap was soft, and I found it pulverized more completely when I added some dry ingredients to the cubes. I pulverize one bar at a time. When I finished, the soap looked like this.
Now dump all the ingredients into a big bowl or bucket and be amazed at the fragrance!
Now, take that big old spoon and mix everything thoroughly! This step takes a while because there is a large volume of product to blend! Even distribution is important, so take your time!
All that's left to do is put your wonderful homemade laundry soap into containers. Two big ice cream buckets that hold at least a gallon work very well.
However, I am so crazy about how it looks and smells that I bought a pretty gallon jar I leave open on the laundry room counter so I can enjoy the fragrance every time I walk through the room!
Our daughter keeps the whole batch in a huge open decorative bowl in their laundry room. The great smell is a whiff of "welcome home" every time they walk in from the garage! ❤
Don't be tempted to think more is more when you do laundry. Two tablespoons are enough for a load!
We're all aware of the increase in grocery prices, which includes not just food but almost every supply we use to run our homes.
I checked Walmart online ordering today to get today's prices on each ingredient in the laundry soap, so you have an accurate picture of just how economical it is to make.
If you add up the list of ingredients using Fels Naptha bars and odor blaster Oxiclean, the total is $29.39 plus applicable local sales tax. A batch does 300 loads for about a dime a load. Liquid Tide detergent may be America's most popular brand of laundry soap, but at $19.94 per 100-load jug, it is almost twice as expensive.
Great-smelling homemade powdered laundry soap that costs about a dime a load. Very easy to make.
Remember that you can also wet a bar of Zote or Fels-Naptha, rub thoroughly into the stain, and launder as usual.
But if you need to pretreat tough stains, combine an equal amount of hydrogen peroxide, Dawn dish soap, and baking soda in a dish or shake together in a squeeze bottle. Put some on the stain and use an old toothbrush to scrub it in lightly.
This mixture can even sit on your clothes in the hamper for a while. It works well on blood, grass, grease, makeup, and tomato stains.
All the ingredients are safe and pure, and this stuff really works!
GB spends a lot of time in the laundry room and the kitchen! I hope you also try this homemade laundry soap and the stain remover! I have had great results from both, and I'd love to hear from you! If you have any laundry hints, please pass them along!
Here are a couple of recent recipes on GB's Kitchen that folks have liked: Amazing Saurkraut Salad and Easy Zucchini Muffins.
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Love, GB (Betty Streff)
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This is the best idea! I use a lot of those products individually but have never heard of the Fels Naptha. My husband is an avid athlete and I am always looking for help with his clothes. Time to get out the food processor!!
Can you make the laundry soap without the scent booster. I have a problem with scents
Hi Sylvis,
I emailed you because I was at work. I checked to be sure, but you can also get Oxyclean in fragrance and dye-free. The scent boosters are 100% optional. Leave them out, and you will also save money. Happy news!
Is this recipe good for HE washers?
Wow. I made this stuff for years with Oxyclean, Borax and Fels Naptha bar. Used Ivory soap once too. Never used any of the other stuff you mentioned. Loved it. No one else seemed to care till the boy went off to college and developed a need for softener smells. LOL
I've used it for years with great results and our laundry smells SO good! Our daughter uses it too! The stain remover hint at the bottom of the post works really great! Thanks ever so much for taking time to comment!!💜
I have an HE washing machine. Can I use this in in my machine?
In a word, yes! Here's a very informative article from one of my most trusted resources.https://www.thespruce.com/is-homemade-detergent-he-washer-safe-2145711#:~:text=Homemade%20laundry%20detergent%20can%20be,in%20a%20high%2Defficiency%20washer. Just copy and paste that link into your search bar for lots of good info!
I can’t use the scent stuff we where thinking could i add lemon oil or just nothing
you can use any essential oil like lavender or lemon for sure; just mix it in with the powdered ingredients.
I've been making my own laundry soap with a variation of this recipe for 15 years now. I do not add scent booster (we add it per load if desired). I used to microwave the fels naphtha to make it fluffy, and boy was it a long job! My husband hated seeing the struggle, and dealing with the soap smell in the microwave for days after. He suggested using a meat grinder. I ended up buying a super old meat grinder at a thrift shop for a few dollars and it is a complete game changer! Laundry soap making went from a few hours to 45 minutes (I double the recipe, so I have to grind 6 bars and it takes a while).
What a smart solution!! I'll have to get mine out next time I made a batch! Thank you so much for sharing that tip!!
It is amazing when you start making your own laundry soap. I make a streamlined version which has worked wonders for me. I use ZOTE instead of Fels-Naptha laundry bar (cheaper and less ingredients). ZOTE also has a mild citronella scent which is quite nice. I also use washing soda and borax. Just three ingredients.
Thanks for taking time to share!! 🤩 I use Zote, too, sometimes, or a combination and I think it's great. ZOTE is better at removing some stains. I keep a bar of each handy to pretreat stubborn stains and our grown
kids still bring me tough stains to help with!
I've made my own laundry detergent off and on for years. I just love the strong scented of the laundry detergent I have bought.So how do I get the scents I love in homemade laundry detergent? I know it's so much cheaper to make them to buy.
Sorry for the delayed respnse, we were out of town. In this laundry soap "recipe" we have included long-lasting laundry scent beads. Please reread the post and next time you're in the laundry aisle, sniff some and I bet you'll find one you love! And yes! The money you save is big!
I remember back in 1963 (and earlier, probably) my mother always had a bar of fels naphtha soap on her scrub board (remember those?). I didn’t know it was still being sold. Your laundry soap concoction is intriguing….
I sure -remember washboards! Actually, we sell a lot of them in our antique shop. LOL Fels-Naptha is still out there and very popular. Just like your mom knew, it's great on stains lke grass and makeup. I encourage you to try tha laundry soap but don't miss out on FelsNaptha for stain removeal. As they say, "mother knows best."
Do we know how this plays with the septic system? I'm sure some other rural folks would like to know as well.. Thanks for sharing this!
There is nothing in this homemade laundry soap that is harmful to septic syatems. We have lived on our rural acreage for twelve years and have a septic tank. This is the only laundry detergent I have uses for that whole time with no problems at all.
For the added scent 'booster', the scent beads can get a bit pricey. Instead, I make ours with Epsom salt and choice of Essential oils. It helps A LOT! Especially since I use a mix of white vinegar, food grade glycerin and choice of Essential oils for the fabric softener. And YES... the towels do come out super fluffy and soft. Plus, they smell amazing without all the chemicals. I am going to mix the homemade 'scent beads' in with my laundry soap now.
Thank you for sharing your powdered laundry detergent & stain remover recipe, and all the information on the laundry soap bars. I didn't know you could just wet them and use on stains or what the differences were between the 2. I really appreciate all of the extra info. ❤️
~ Mandie ~
Wow, you sound like an amazing woman! Please tell me more about how you make the scents- you're right, it is one of the most expensive components of homemade laundry soap! I also use white vinegar in every load of towels or whites and it makes a big difference! Thank you!!
Thank you for this recipe! I just made this and it smells so clean in the bucket. I love for our clothing and bedding to smell super good, good enough that people ask me what I use lol but after washing with this mixture we can’t seem to smell the detergent on the clothing at all hardly? Like I can smell it in the bucket really well, but our clothing has hardly a scent at all. I followed directions exactly to yours. Only thing I did different was I used a different scent booster, an arm and hammer one. I also used 3tbsp. Do you recommend something different/or stronger for scent booster??
Rebecca, That is a new question for me. The only thing I can think of is to add additional scent beads to each load like recommended on the product label. i think it's usually a capful. The scent beads add quite a bt to the cost of the laundry soap yet the amount of scent beads in each load is pretty small. You might try it. I use Arm and Hammer brand scent beads, too. You might let me know if that boosts the fragrance to your liking.