Homemade Laundry Detergent

I'm super excited to share with you this recipe for Homemade Powdered Laundry Detergent (courtesy of the Duggar's website) I made today. I know, I know......some of you may think I'm silly for being so excited over something like this, but as a mom of 3 boys (soon to be 4), our family is only growing larger in size which means I can barely keep up with the mounds of clothes each week, not to mention I have one boy that pretty much likes to bathe in his food on a daily basis and another that always seems to add extra sheets & clothes to the piles with leaking pull-ups at night. It's a never ending laundry duty!!!!

I have used so many different brands of Laundry Detergents over the past few years trying to find something that not only will get stains, food & pee smell out of clothes, but not cost a fortune. I never have found anything that worked great, but we settled for Tide along with using Borax Laundry Booster & Vinegar in each load to help clean our clothes better.

That is until today.........I have done 3 loads of laundry with this new Homemade Laundry Detergent and it works great so far! It has gotten out food & grime, pee smell out of pajamas & the clothes look nice & clean with a nice scent. YAY!!!!! I have finally found my new laundry detergent and it literally only costs pennies per load (which I am totally stoked about). This makes me one happy frugal Mama!

Here is the items you will need:

1 Fels-Naptha soap bar
1 Cup- Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda (Do not use baking soda)
1/2 Cup Borax



Grate soap or break into pieces (do not mistake for grated cheddar cheese) :)



and process in a food processor until powdered.



Mix all ingredients together. For light load, use 1 Tablespoon. For heavy or heavily soiled load, use 2 Tablespoons (which is what I used). Yields 3 Cups detergent. (Approx. 40 loads)

*I trippled the batch & put it in a 2 gallon bucket with a lid to store. I will be making a few more batches again tomorrow so I won't have to make anymore for awhile*



Tips: I had a hard time finding the Fels-Naptha soap bar & the Arm & Hammer Washing Soda. I couldn't find any store in town that carried them. After much research online, I found the cheapest route to go. I ordered from Ace Hardware online & had it delivered to the Willow/Nees location to get free shipping. You can purchase Borax either at Target or Walmart & I'm sure many other various stores as well.

My husband calculated it out to be around .05 cents per load of laundry. Not too shabby!

Another Tip: I add either 1/2-1 cup of vinegar in a Downy Ball into the washer for heavily soiled clothes. It works wonders! I purchase my vinegar at Costco.