Your Questions About Homemade Laundry Detergent Answered

 Yes, you can make your own laundry soap. How do you do it?

Making your own detergent isn’t all that difficult. All you need is one bar of your favorite soap, one box of washing soda, one box of borax a five-gallon bucket. It only takes a few minutes of your time and many people swear by it. Still, I've got a few more questions about it. Here's what you need to know and the questions I'm asking about homemade laundry detergent.

You put four cups of water on to boil and shave the entire bar of soap into the water in chunks. Stir until all soap dissolves in the hot water (it doesn’t matter if it really boils or not). Take your large bucket and pour three gallons of hot tap water into it. Add the dissolved bar of soap and mix. Next mix in the washing soda until combined. Put on some gloves before doing the final step of adding ½ cup of borax and mixing. Let the mixture sit over night. In the morning you’ll find a bucket full of slimy mess. You can use one cup of slime to clean one load of laundry. Here are some tips to help first timers: 

• Save up some gallon jugs from milk or other drinks and use them to store the detergent. If you can get some extra large detergent bottles, the cap should measure one cup and store the detergent nicely.
• Keep a one cup measure handy in the laundry room if you can’t find detergent bottles.
• Avoid using heavily perfumed bar soap or beauty bars. Think basic soap.
• See if you like a dry detergent recipe better. (2 cups grated bar soap, 1 cup Washing Soda, 1 cup Borax, use 2 Tablespoons per load)
• Using a low-suds soap like Ivory, or any soap marked specifically as laundry soap, will result in High Efficiency (HE) safe detergent.

Okay, so It’s Easy to Make. Does making your own soap really save you "big” money?

This really depends on what you call big money. Savings reports vary from 16 cents per load to 27 cents per load. In any case, if you only do five loads a week, you are saving about a buck or so. I’m not exactly jumping up and down about it. According to TLC’s How Stuff Works, the average household washes 300 loads of laundry in a year. So the average family would save $81 at best. 

So It Saves You a Little. Are There Any Other Benefits?

Savings aside, there are some good reasons to make your own. Many say natural detergents are an important part of an anti-cancer lifestyle. By using soap with fewer perfumes and chemicals, families may be healthier. 

Naturalists say that the phosphates in commercially produced detergents are bad for the planet. They are great cleaners, but they add to the over-growth of algae, depriving deeper water of the oxygen needed to sustain other plant life and fish.

The lack of dyes and perfumes in homemade detergent saves those with allergies a lot of trouble.  You can also make your own scent of laundry soap, which can make you feel pretty darn good. By experimenting with natural oils like Lavender, Cinnamon, Lemongrass, Sweet Orange, Tea Tree, Rose and Patchouli, you can come up with the perfect scent. However, this approach would not save money. Essential oils are expensive!

I’m Just Not That Into It. Would You Make Your Own Soap? 

Folks, I have to let you know I am breaking with the crowd on this one. There are hundreds of articles on this topic all shouting about the “big” savings of 27 cents per load. If you did 1,000 loads a year, and it seems unlikely you do, the savings may be worthwhile at $270.  While I do care about doing my share for the environment, I can always buy phosphate-free detergents. No one in my family has allergies, so I’m not worried by dyes and perfumes. 

You have probably guessed that I’m not going to be running out to buy the stuff for making my own laundry detergent any time soon. In fact, I don’t mind paying a few cents more for the convenience of a good soap. For instance, Method came out with a new pump dispenser. This ensures I use the right amount of soap every time and don’t waste it in over-pouring capfuls. That’s my idea of saving money on laundry soap. 

If you aren’t into the idea of making your own, you can save a few cents yourself simply by using less. Americans tend to overuse their detergent, leading to residue build up and extra wear on machines. Just pour a little less and you can save a few cents that way.