Homemade Liquid Laundry Detergent 🧼
With 3 simple ingredients and ten minutes, you can make your own homemade laundry soap. Nothing fancy, just simple ingredients that freshen, deodorize, fight stains, and remove dirt.
Prep: 10 mins | Total: 20 mins | Yield: 8 cups
Ingredients
- ½ cup - Borax
- ½ cup - Washing Soda
- ½ cup - Liquid Castile Soap, Unscented or Scented
- 7 ½ cups - Water, Divided
- 25 drops - Essential oil, Optional for Scent
Directions
- In a large saucepan or Dutch oven, bring 3 cups of water to a slight boil. Once the water begins to boil, turn off the burner.
- Add the Borax and washing soda. Stir to dissolve. Then add 4 ½ cups of room-temperature water and ½ cup of liquid castile soap. Give the ingredients a stir to combine.
- Allow the soap to cool for a few minutes before pouring into one large gallon-size jar or smaller containers, like quart-size jars. Make sure your jar(s) are heat-safe. If not, wait until the soap is cool, then spoon the soap into the jar(s). If you're reusing an old detergent bottle, make sure the soap is fully cool before adding to a plastic container.
- Add an essential oil of choice (if using) to the soap (now in the jar) and stir to combine with the detergent. The essential oil will add a subtle fragrance, but shouldn't be added until the soap cools as heat will cause the essential oil to evaporate.
- As the soap sits, the mixture may form into a gel and become chunky. There may also be liquid and gel separation, simply stir or shake. This is normal.
Notes
- For top loading washer machines, use 1/8-1/4 cup. For a front loader, use 1-2 tablespoons. Add the detergent to the liquid soap compartment of the washer.
- Stain Treatment - Use a small amount of soap directly on the stain, scrub or rub the stain with a cloth. Repeat as needed, then wash the garment. Or use this stain remover spray.
- Laundry Softener - This laundry detergent may be used with a fabric softener. I use vinegar added to the softener compartment or this salt scent booster & softener added directly to the wash basin before running a wash cycle.
- A reader recently shared this tip, 'I like the the detergent to be more gelatinous and I use my immersion blender for a few seconds after it is cool to whip it. It turns white and jelly.'
- From Hunter: For a 'medium' load of laundry, I use 4 tablespoon scoops (~¼ cup), then adjust the amount from there based on a bigger or smaller load.
- From Hunter: I use this jar from Walmart - https://www.walmart.com/ip/Anchor-Hocking-Glass-Cracker-Jar-with-Lid-1-Gallon/16520333
Previous
Creamy Ham and Potato Soup 🍜