Making homemade laundry detergent is easy, inexpensive, and effective in regular and HE washers. Save money and avoid chemicals with DIY laundry detergent.

This is the ORIGINAL homemade laundry detergent recipe, all others only imitate what you’ll find here.

This is a fun project that will save you money and help you rid your home of toxic chemical cleaners. When you’re done making this check out these other related articles:

Note: No time or desire to make homemade laundry detergent? You can always purchase a great natural brand like this.

When we first set out to make our own homemade laundry detergent we thought it would be difficult and time-consuming – turns out it’s neither. Further, making your own laundry powder is fast, easy, and inexpensive.

Why Powdered DIY Laundry Detergent?

We opt for powder over liquid in respect for opportunity cost, storage, and simplicity. Specifically, the liquid variety takes longer to make, requires more storage space, and is more complicated. Finally, years after making our first batch, thousands of others have tried it and loved the results.

Moreover, this powdered DIY laundry detergent recipe requires just three simple ingredients and takes only a few minutes to make.

To illustrate, the instructions and pictorial instructions follow, along with the cost savings breakdown, notes on HE washers, septic tanks, and borax safety.

Note: This homemade laundry soap/detergent works in all HE front-load washers; read more below.

Print Homemade Laundry Detergent Prep 5 mins Total 5 mins Author Matt Jabs Yield 32 ounces Ingredients 1 bar (or 4.5 ounces) shaved bar soap (a homemade laundry bar, Dr. Bronner’s, Kirk’s Castile Saop, Ivory, ZOTE, or Fels-Naptha)

14 ounces borax

14 ounces washing soda Instructions Thoroughly stir together for several minutes and enjoy the results! You can take this a step further and blend the mixture in a blender or food processor to create a powder that will dissolve easily even in cold water. (Just be sure to let the dust settle before removing the lid of your blender or food processor so you don’t inhale the fine particles.) Store in a sealed container with a small scoop. Notes Each batch yields approximately 32 ounces (between 32-64 loads based on how many Tbsp used per load). Use 1 Tbsp per small load (or 2-3 Tbsp for large or heavily soiled loads).

Homemade Laundry Ingredients

Generally, you can purchase all these DIY laundry detergent ingredients at your local grocery store:

A 55-ounce box of Arm & Hammer® Super Washing Soda = $3.99

= $3.99 76-ounce box of 20 Mule Team® Borax = $4.99

= $4.99 10 pack of 4.5-ounce bars of Ivory® Bar Soap

Note on ingredients: use whatever ingredients you are comfortable with. To explain, some people are comfortable with popular brands that are not totally natural, while others prefer to make their own.

Some commonly used bar soap brands include Kirk’s Original Coco Castile®, Pure & Natural®, Fels-Naptha®, and/or ZOTE®. Also, both ZOTE® and Fels-Naptha® are made for and sold as a “laundry bar.”

In contrast, if you’re looking for a pure, natural solution you’ll need to go with a handcrafted soap so you can be sure of its ingredients. Also, you can purchase a natural bar of soap. Because everyone is on a different level we encourage everyone to do what they’re comfortable with.

As previously mentioned, all items can be found in the laundry aisle of most grocery stores. However, if you cannot find washing soda, you can learn to make your own here!

Homemade Laundry Detergent Pictorial Instructions

For visual learners, like myself, enjoy these pictorial instructions.

1. Start with these ingredients and utensils:

2. Shave 1 bar of soap. I used a simple hand grater:

3. My shaved bar looked like this:

4. Add 14 ounces of borax:

5. Add 14 ounces of washing soda:

6. Stir thoroughly:

7. Stirring is complete when you have a powder like this:

8. Store your detergent in an airtight container and enjoy!

Use 1 Tbsp per small load or 2 -3 Tbsp for large or heavily soiled loads. If you have really hard water, you may need to use even more.

You can blend the mixture in a blender or food processor to get a fine powder that will dissolve easily in cold water loads. If you don’t want to do this extra step, you can also just dissolve the detergent in a pint of warm water before adding it to the washing machine.

There you have it folks – simple, easy, fast, and efficient homemade laundry detergent!

When you’re done making this check out our article on homemade fabric softener/dryer sheets!

Note: No time or desire to make homemade laundry detergent? You can always purchase a great natural brand like this.

Cost Savings Breakdown

Prior to making our own, we were using Arm & Hammer liquid detergent. Here is the breakdown in cost analysis:

Use 1 Tbsp per load, or 2 -3 Tbsp for large or heavily soiled loads.

Arm & Hammer ® liquid 100 ounce detergent – $6.79 – 32 loads = $0.21 per load

100 ounce detergent – $6.79 – 32 loads Tide® with Bleach powder 267 ounce detergent – $20.32 – 95 loads = $0.21 per load

267 ounce detergent – $20.32 – 95 loads Jabs Homemade powder 32 ounce detergent – $2.98 – 64 loads = $0.05 per load

As you can see, whether I compare against traditional store bought liquid or powder, I am saving $0.16 per load!

High Efficiency (HE) Washers

HE front-load washers require “special soap” for one reason alone – low suds. Because they use less water, they require soap that is less sudsy. The good news is this homemade detergent is VERY low suds. The “special” HE detergent is just another advertising mechanism to push consumers to buy “special soap” for unnecessarily high prices.

Regardless of your washer type, just make your own in confidence.

Safe for Septic Tanks and Fields

This is the best laundry soap to use with septic tanks because it contains zero phosphates and zero fillers (like montmorillonite clay) that cause commercial powder detergents to clog lines. It is also completely non-toxic so it will not harm necessary septic bacteria like toxic detergents and antibacterial soaps. Use with confidence.

Is Borax In Homemade Laundry Detergent Toxic?

After thorough research, I have concluded borax is only as toxic as baking soda or table salt; if you ingest it in high quantities, it may make you sick. If you use it as described in our recipes, it poses no toxic threat.

Just make sure you don’t confuse borax with boric acid, the two are NOT the same. Use borax (I recommend 20 Mule Team brand), and steer clear of boric acid.

For those of you who want more info, read this excellent Crunchy Betty article where she expounds the toxicity levels of borax; I couldn’t have said it better myself – thanks, Crunchy Betty.

At the end of the day, decide for yourself to use it or not, and afford others the same courtesy.

What are you waiting for? Go get the ingredients and make your homemade laundry detergent today!

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References and Resources