I've been reading a lot lately about saving money, by making your own laundry detergent, etc.  I got interested in this, when we were having trouble finding detergent for our dishwasher.  Oh there is some you can purchase here, but the National powdered brand is running about $3.00 a bag, and doesn't dissolve in our dishwasher.  The other brands that are imported from the US, is costing over $10 a box, and I just can't bring myself to pay those amounts, so I've been on a search to find something else.

In my searches, I found several recipes for laundry detergent, and since I'm paying almost $10 for a bag that lasts us about 2 weeks, I decided it was worth a try.  I had to do some searching to find ingredients here that would work, since I couldn't just go and buy a box of Washing Soda or 20 Mule Team Borax at my local Walmart store.  :-)

This morning I made 3 different recipes.  I know I couldn't make up my mind which one to try, so decided to try all 3...I figure we will use these and once we've worked through them, and by the time we finish, I should be able to choose the one that I liked the best. :-)

So here are the recipes for the ones I tried....

Liquid Laundry Detergent #1

1/3 to 1/2 bar of laundry soap, (I used "Lava Todo")

1/3 a bar of nice smelling soap, (I used Johnson's Baby soap, Lavender.  This is for the smell, so you don't have to do it if you don't want to.)

1/2 cup of washing soda, this is "Carbonato de Sodio". I made my own, today, by putting baking soda on a  cookie sheet and "baking" it for 45 minutes in a 400F oven. You can find Baking Soda here at small stores that sell spices.

1/2 cup of borax, this is "acidio borato", Tony found it at place that sells chemicals for cleaning. 2 Cups cost $4.00. We're going to check at the same store for the "washing soda" next time. ;-)

( I thought about using some cleansers like "Tips" that is "Carbonato de Sodio" but it also has Carbonato de Calicio, which is "lime" and my water is already very hard, so I don't need to add lime!)


1. Grate soap into a sauce pan. (I used one that I don't use for cooking, but, it is soap, so I think if you washed it well afterwards it would be fine. ;-)

2. Add 6 cups of water, heat until the soap melts.

3. Add the washing soda and borax, stir until dissolved

4. Pour 4 cups of hot water into a bucket. Add soap mixture, and stir.

5. Add 1 gallon plus 6 cups of water. Stir.

6. Let set 24 hours. Stir and pour into 2 gallon jugs. (I'm going to be using Tampico jugs. :-)

Use 1/2 cup per load. The recipe said it might get lumpy...to just shake before using...and that the lumps don't bother the cleaning power.




Liquid Laundry Detergent #2This is a "no-cook" version.

You need 1 gallon jug, (again, I used a Tampico jug)
To the jug add:

3T borax
3T washing soda
2T dish soap, (Dawn was recommended, but the lady making it said, she had used something else)
Then pour in 4 cups of boiling water.  Swirl until dissolved.   Let cool, and fill the jug with cold water.  Said, that soap bubbles would overflow, but that was ok...

Use 1/2 to 1 cup per load.
(This one is very watery.  Not sure how it is going to work.)

Powdered Laundry Detergent 

1 Cup of grated bar soap (again used the baby soap, lavender)
1 Cup of  grated laundry soap bar (used "Lava Todo")
1 Cup of Borax
1 Cup of Washing Soda

Mix together.  I put about 1/3 to 1/2 a cup at a time in my mini food chopper and processed to make a finer powder.

Store in an airtight container.  Use 1 to 2 tablespoons per load.

I will post back in about a month, and let you know which one we liked the best! :-)