Homemade Laundry Detergent - Success!

After reading about my failure to make laundry detergent, reader Melissa posted her mom's recipe. Today I decided to try this recipe, only I used a different soap because they didn't have either kind she mentioned (Fels Naptha or Ivory) available at the store today.

Ingredients

1/2 C Borax

1/2 C Washing Soda

1 Bar Kirk's Original Coco Castile

I chose this soap at the organic store because it is made of coconut oil. Coconut oil has many great qualities and is used in natural cleaning supplies, so I think it will be a good substitution (my usual detergent, Planet, is also coconut-based). It was also under $2.00 per bar.

First you have to grate the soap (until it is too small and you are afraid you will scrape your fingers):

Dump it into the bowl:

Add washing soda and Borax:

Stir it up (I ended up using a smaller wisk than what I grabbed originally - or just mix with your fingers like my son):

Put it in a leftover bag from your old detergent (or any bag that you find around your house):

Now go attack the giant pile of laundry in your basement :) (sorry, not sharing a picture of that - go look at your own!)

I think it's fun to get the kids involved. My son loves to stir and mix things, just make sure you put everything away after you're finished - otherwise, you may wake up to a giant pile of baking soda dumped all over your dining room table.