2 Minute Homemade Laundry Detergent Recipe - The Herbal Spoon (2024)

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Do you have 2 minutes? Then you have time to make this diy homemade laundry detergent recipe. About the same amount of time it takes to whip up this refreshing fabric and room spray. Most laundry detergent recipes involve a steamy pot of water and soap on the stove and arm-aching stirring. Not to mention it’s all congealed when it’s time to pour it out of the bottle.

Easy Homemade Laundry Detergent Recipe

With this recipe there’s nothing to heat on the stove, no hassle, and less mess. Natural laundry detergent is also more eco-friendly since it doesn’t use unnecessary water. You’re throwing the homemade detergent into a huge drum of water anyway when you wash the clothes.

Many years ago my best friend scooped out a strange, neon yellow, congealed mixture from a five gallon bucket in their family garage. I was used to her mom’s herbal concoctions, but this yellow goo caught me off guard. Turns out she made homemade laundry detergent to save money doing laundry for her eleventy million kids. Ok, there were only nine, but some days I’m sure it felt like it.

How to Make Your Own Homemade Laundry Detergent

Homemade laundry detergent is only as good as it’s ingredients. Conventional soap bars, like those lining the bath aisle at Walmart, won’t work well. I use Dr. Bronners castile soap with success, but you can also use soap specifically for laundry.

The method here is simple and uses only 3 ingredients.

Fels Naptha vs Castile Soap

My first time around with this recipe I used old formula Fels Naptha because it’s what I had on hand. Purex now makes the soap and it has ingredients I like to skip out on, like titanium dioxide, acid yellow #73 and PEG-6. A natural soap, like Dr. Bronners, or a homemade laundry soap bar will work. Either plain or scented, if you don’t want to add essential oils. The Dr. Bronner’s tea tree or orange citrus are especially good for laundry.

A cheaper option is to make your own soap. Mommypotamus has a great coconut oil laundry bar recipe that makes about 9 large bars with 3 ingredients. This is enough laundry soap to last 180-360 loads of laundry, depending on how large/dirty the loads are.

The Secret Ingredient to DIY Laundry Detergent

Washing soda, not to be confused with baking soda, is sold in the cleaners aisle. Don’t go looking for it next to the brownie mix. Washing soda is made of sodium carbonate, not sodium bicarbonate, and helps soften water. It’s just as natural as baking soda, has a high pH, and is found at most stores.

How to Make Washing Soda

If for some reason you can’t find washing soda here’s an easy way to make it.

1. Dump baking soda into a glass baking dish and spread so it’s 1/2 to 1 inch thick.
2. Cook the baking soda for 1 hour at 400 (or longer if needed)
3. Stir halfway through cooking

Borax: Ant Killer and Laundry Saver

Borax softens water and helps prevents damage to clothing to help them last longer. It’s a gentle, yet powerful cleaner when it comes to stain fighting. Borax creates a negative electrostatic charge between the fabric and dirt so they repel each other in the washing machine. This also helps prevent the dirt from attaching back to clothing fibers. (source)

Borax is controversial for some because it’s toxic to ingest. I actually mix it with peanut butter to kill ants in the house. However, it’s used in many natural skin care products and is a naturally occurring mineral. My toddler once ate some of my homemade ant killer solution and I freaked out. The lady at poison control calmly explained that he would need to down a whole lot for there to be any issues.

“Borax naturally occurs from the repeated evaporation of seasonal lakes. The largest deposits of this mineral may be found in California, the American southwest, Chile and Tibet.” (source)

Homemade Laundry Detergent Without Borax

I don’t have a problem using borax in my laundry, but if you have sensitive skin you may need to skip it. Almost everything gives me a rash, including most soap, markers, and old books, but… I do fine with borax. Unless your kids eat massive amounts of laundry detergent it’s shouldn’t be an issue. However, substitute more washing soda for the recipe if you don’t want to skip the borax.

Laundry Detergent with Essential Oils

These are optional but add extra disinfecting power and make the laundry smell nice and clean. essential oils are non-toxic when used properly, but clothes won’t leave the washer with a heavy scent like they do with artificial fragrances in conventional laundry detergent.

Tea tree and lemon essential oils are my favorite essential oils for laundry. They’re antibacterial and help control mold and mildew in clothing, especially cloth diapers.

Why Homemade Laundry Soap is Bad

I know you’re thinking, “you just sold me on this stuff and now you tell me not to use it??” Homemade laundry detergent recipes have gotten a bad rap for several reasons, but it depends on a few factors. Soap is not the same thing as detergent and it works a little differently. Most recipes (including this one) use soap instead of a synthetic detergent formulated for clothing.

While soap is natural and easy to use, residue can build up on clothing over time. This can depend on how hard your water is, if you have an HE machine which uses little water, and the ratio of soap in the recipe. We have a water softener and house filter so I’ve never had issues with the homemade stuff. If your clothes start smelling funky or feeling weird though, you need a laundry detergent intervention.

The options are:

1. Strip your clothes and revert to a store- bought natural laundry detergent. Seventh Generation and Ecos laundry detergents are my top choices.
2. Increase the borax and washing soda in the recipe and/or dissolve the mixture in hot water first.

This homemade laundry detergent recipe has worked well for us and I like it infinitely better than neon yellow goo.

Natural Laundry Stain Removers

My favorite laundry stain remover for most messes is hydrogen peroxide. Supposedly it can fade certain colors, but I’ve never had that problem. You can test it out on a small patch first to make sure. This stuff has gotten rid of set in blueberry stains, baby drool and coffee.

For grease stains I use straight up dish soap. I cook a lot with coconut oil and sometimes it gets away from me and onto my shirt. So far peroxide and dish soap have yet to fail me as natural laundry stain removers.

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