A Pictorial Guide to Making Homemade Powdered Laundry Detergent

While nibbling goodies at the Super Bowl Party at our pastor’s house, I overhead his wife, Val, telling some of the other women she needed to make some laundry detergent.

My investigative reporting instincts went on high alert, and I immediately sensed the opportunity for not just an article, but also a pictorial guide to making homemade powdered laundry detergent.

Sure enough, Val graciously agreed to let me invade her home with my camera, tape recorder and all my other paraphernalia.

In her own words, here’s how to make homemade laundry detergent from the first step of grating the bar of soap to the last step of storing it for use. Remarkably, this recipe only takes three inexpensive ingredients and the whole process took about 5 minutes. Sweet!

My recipe is:

• One cup of Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda (not baking soda)
• One bar of grated laundry bar soap (we used Colgate)
• One-half cup of borax (we used 20 Mule Team Borax). If the borax has caked, just shake the box to break it up.

Step one: Start by grating the bar of Colgate Octagon soap. This time I am using Colgate because it was the only brand available at the store, but I have used Fels-Naptha.

The Colgate seems drier and coarser than the Fels-Naptha, but you should be able to use any type of all purpose soap you find in the laundry aisle. Hmm, this Colgate seems to be easier to grate than the Fels-Naptha. I guess that’s because it is drier.

I grate on top of a cutting board covered in waxed paper so I can transfer it to the jar easily, and I use the whole bar. Some recipes call for one cup of grated soap but I found that a whole bar works well for my purposes.

There are recipes all over the Internet, and some people prefer making liquid detergent. However, I don’t like to have to store the liquid. I've read you need to stir the mixture because it settles and that it is slightly cheaper but it doesn’t seem worth it to me.

Step two: Next, you just push the grated soap into the middle of the waxed paper, form a cone or funnel shape with the paper, and pour the grated soap into a container.

I’m using a decorative glass jar I found at the Goodwill for 79 cents, but you can use anything.

Measure and add the other two ingredients to the container and shake or stir it until the mixture is well blended. That’s all there is to it; it’s really easy and fast to make.

Tips and cost: I have made the detergent with one cup each of the washing soda and the borax but I think it works just as well with the smaller amount of borax and it is cheaper.

This recipe costs around $2 and yields enough powdered detergent for approximately 40 loads.

How to use: I use one tablespoon of detergent per load, and I always use cold water. I don’t know about you but we have well water and it takes forever for the water to heat up. This formula works well in cold water and does a good cleaning job.

Testimonial: In my opinion, it does save money to make your own powdered laundry detergent.

The cheapest price I ever paid for detergent at the store was $1.99, and that was when I was heavily involved in couponing to save money.

I had a coupon for All and the box yield was about 32 loads.

In addition, when you buy laundry detergent, you are exposing yourself to all the chemicals. This way you avoid all the sudsing additives and other toxic elements.

I’ll be curious to see how the Colgate works in this batch, but overall, I’ve never had any problems with the powder dissolving.

As you know, Ashton has a million allergies and this formulation has never caused her any problems.

Author's note: I used this homemade powdered laundry detergent to wash a load of white clothes. As a test, I included my son's new Taekwondo uniform to the load with his old one, which is about a year old.

The old uniform looks almost as bright and white as the new one after being washed in this detergent (see image at the top of this section)! I typically wash whites in Tide and add 20 Mule Team Borax as a laundry booster to keep them white. Homemade laundry detergent will save me money!

1. More wearable use:Your clothing lasts longer because you are not degrading the fabrics with harsh chemicals. Most clothing wears out from the stress of being washed and dried, not because the individual has outgrown it or the fabric wears out.

2. Safety: When you reduce the exposure to toxins, your family’s health increases whether you are eating more foods that are organic or making your own cleaning supplies. Traces of chemicals remain in clothing regards of how well the garments are rinsed. These chemicals can trigger allergic reactions in individuals.

3. Core values: When you purchase any commercially made product, whether it is laundry soap or a package of gum, your consumer dollars support that manufacturer’s core values rather than your own. If the company engages in practices with which you do not agree or supports organizations whose views are at odds with yours, you are in essence funding those practices and causes. The recent, well-publicized controversy over the Catholic Church and contraception is a perfect example of this.

4. Life skills: Making your own laundry detergent is a good way to teach core concepts such as self-sufficiency to your children. Teaching them important life skills like how to cook, how to care for their clothing, and how to do other household tasks prepares them to live independently.

5. Budget: You free yourself from the price variances of the marketplace; the rising cost of everything (including cleaning supplies) does not hold you in bondage.

6. Cost savings: You may or may not save money. A family with no children or one child may not feel the cost savings are worth the effort of making their own laundry detergent. Like most things, the cost savings increase when the number of loads of laundry increase, so larger families would see a bigger cost savings. However, saving money may not be the motivating factor for you especially when you consider all the other benefits of making your own laundry soap.

7. Eco-friendly: Natural, homemade detergents are kinder to the environment because you are not dumping those chemicals onto the soil in the wastewater. Our water comes from a well so we are careful about what goes into the earth on our property.

8. No excess packaging: You’ll generate less trash because you are not constantly throwing out empty containers. Now, I don’t know about you, but in the rural area where we live, there is no curbside pickup of trash. Nope, I have to put all the trash in the trunk of my car and haul it to the dump. Therefore, anything I can do to reduce the amount of trash my family generates is a time and energy saver for me.

What's your take on this? Are the cost savings worth it to you or are there other reasons that appeal to you more? Leave a note in the comments section and share your opinion, please!