DIY Non-Toxic Liquid Laundry Detergent

I’m a few weeks behind in my blogging.  I’ve experienced a return to pregnancy exhaustion that I’m pretty sure is related to my thyroid starting to cause problems again.  (Long story for another post.)  I’m exhausted today, too, but since my grocery run was done on Saturday, and laundry is almost finished, I have this dreary Monday mostly free. 

I posted earlier about homemade powdered laundry detergent.  It gets mixed reviews from me.  I grew up on liquid detergent.  It’s what I know.  Since we have a lot of dark clothing and my little guy LOVES red, I wash mainly in cold water.  The problem with cold water is that the castile soap doesn’t dissolve very well.  I’ve made it through most of my batch of detergent by liquefying it as much as possible in a jar with hot tap water before each load.  I’d be more than willing to put in two extra minutes with each load of laundry, but since I still occasionally see soap flakes left on my clothes, I decided it was time to move on to a new recipe—as long as I can continue to use the bar soap I already purchased!

If I’ve learned anything from my do-it-yourself journey, it’s patience.  I expect my first attempts to be less than perfect plan to tweak recipes as I learn more.  If you want store-bought results every time, don’t try it at home!  I still believe it will be worth it in the long run.

Today’s laundry detergent batch is in the overnight waiting step, but I’ll post the recipe now and results in a few weeks.  This is modified from blogs I’ve read and scaled to fit in the one and only empty detergent bottle I have (1.45 gal).

Liquid Laundry Detergent

¼ bar of castile soap (Dr. Bonner’s baby mild)

2 cups of water

1 gal water

¼ cup borax

¼ cup washing soda

Essential oil if desired

Large bucket, with lid if possible

Empty detergent bottle or other storage container

1. Grate soap in blender, food processer, or cheese grater

2. Heat soap in sauce pan with two cups of water over low-medium heat, stirring frequently until completely dissolved.

3. Meanwhile, add 1 gal very hot tap water to bucket. Add borax and washing soda.  Mix thoroughly. 

4.  Pour soap and water mixture into bucket and stir to combine. 

5. Cover and let sit overnight.

6. Stir until smooth and transfer into storage container.

7. Use 1/2- 1 cup per load.

Results to come!  I also hope to try recipes without borax (some consider it harmful) and with liquid castile soap instead of bar soap once I run out of the bars I have.