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Recipe yeilds 1 gallon laundry detergent.
When I was pregnant with my 2nd baby, I started doing more research on how I could switch our everyday products to things with more natural ingredients. With that, came the search for a new laundry detergent!
I contemplated buying one of the more natural brands, but honestly, it really wasn't in the budget for us. We are young and don't have the means that most natural brands charge. But I really didn't want to compromise what we used to wash clothes we wear on our bodies every day! I looked up a lot of recipes and most included Borax, which I was not comfortable with using. So after a little trial and error I came up with a recipe with only 4 ingredients that works for us and leaves our clothes feeling clean, and smelling fresh! And as an added bonus, it saves quite a bit of money.
Ingredients:
16 cups water
1 cup baking soda
3/4 cup castille soap
1 tbs salt
Essential oils (optional)
Bring the water to a boil and then turn off the burner, removing from the heat. You will want to slowly mix in the baking soda, it will begin to foam, if you pour it at once it may overflow! Add in the salt and stir until the baking soda is completely dissolved.
Pour your castille soap into a gallon size jug. Most recently I have been using the citrus scented castille soap, I really like the smell of it! I have also used the unscented castille soap and added grapefruit and lemon essential oils for a fresh scent.
Once the water and baking soda mixture has COMPLETELY cooled, pour into the jar using a funnel. If you do not wait for it to cool, it will cause the baking soda to clump up when mixed with castille soap, so this is an important step. Do not skip!
When you mix the two, it will bubble up quite a bit, so pour slowly!
I recommend using a gallon size jug that is easy to shake up, because this is natural the ingredients tend to separate. I got mine on Amazon.
Use:
1/2 cup per load
For especially dirty laundry, add more as needed. I often times add some vinegar in with a load as well. Especially with my husband's work clothes, or baby clothes that suffered a blowout!
When I first made my laundry detergent, I asked my mom to let me know if we stank, because often times we can get used to a smell and not realize it's unpleasant! I'm happy to report there have been no complaints! My husband was skeptical that it wouldn't really get our clothes clean, and even he's impressed!
One large bottle of castille soap has lasted us 6 months, so in all, we spend about $2.50 a month on laundry detergent now! And I'm happy knowing it's safe for my whole family!
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