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Homemade Laundry Soap — Budget-Friendly & Gentle on Clothes
If you’re looking to save money and simplify your laundry routine, making your own laundry soap at home is a great option. This DIY laundry detergent is easy to make, cost-effective, and works well even in high-efficiency (HE) machines. It’s a wonderful project if you enjoy frugal living and practical household DIYs. I’ve been making homemade laundry soap on and off for over 20 years now. I don’t always make homemade laundry soap, but when I do, this is my favorite recipe.
You don’t need a long list of complicated ingredients — just a bar of soap, washing soda, borax, and water. This recipe makes a big batch (about 5 gallons), but you can easily halve it if you don’t need that much.
Why Make Homemade Laundry Soap
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Saves money: Making your own detergent can cost a fraction of store-bought brands.
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Gentle cleaning: Works well on everyday laundry and is low-sudsing, so it’s safe for HE machines.
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Customizable: Add essential oils for fragrance or booster products like OxiClean if desired.
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Easy to store: Store in recycled detergent bottles, milk jugs, or other containers.
Ingredients
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4 cups boiling water
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1 bar Fels-Naptha soap or about 5 oz of Zote, Castile, Ivory, or similar soap
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1 cup Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda Laundry Booster
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1 cup Borax
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Enough hot water to fill a 5-gallon bucket
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Optional: a few drops of essential oil for fragrance or 1 cup OxiClean as a booster
Instructions
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Melt the Soap:
Heat 4 cups of water in a large saucepan until boiling. While the water heats, grate your bar of soap using a cheese grater or food processor. Add the grated soap to the boiling water and stir constantly over medium-low heat until it is fully melted. (Zote melts faster than harder soaps.) -
Mix the Base:
In a 5-gallon bucket, add about half of the hot tap water. Stir in the washing soda and borax until dissolved. -
Add Melted Soap:
Pour the melted soap mixture into the bucket and stir well to combine with the washing soda and borax solution. -
Fill with Water:
Add more hot water to fill the bucket nearly to the top. Stir thoroughly. Cover and let the mixture sit overnight. -
Finish & Use:
The next day, you’ll notice the detergent has thickened into a slightly gel-like consistency. Stir it well before using. Transfer to storage containers, such as recycled detergent bottles or milk jugs. Shake gently before each use.
Usage: Use about ¼ to ½ cup per laundry load. This detergent is low-sudsing and safe for HE machines.
Hard Water Tip: If you have hard water, add ¼ cup of white vinegar to the rinse cycle to help soften clothes and reduce residue.
Tips & Extras
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Scent Boost: A few drops of your favorite essential oil (like lavender or lemon) can give your laundry a subtle fragrance.
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Cleaning Power: Adding OxiClean (about 1 cup) to the mixture makes this soap even more effective for heavily soiled clothes.
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Smaller Batch: If 5 gallons is too much, cut the ingredients in half and use a smaller bucket or container.
Why It Works
This homemade laundry soap combines simple cleaning ingredients:
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Soap: Provides the cleansing action.
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Washing Soda: Boosts water softness and helps remove stains.
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Borax: Enhances cleaning power and deodorizes fabrics.
Making your own laundry soap is a classic frugal hack that can save you money and let you control what goes into your cleaning products. Whether you make a big batch for your family or a smaller one to test first, this recipe offers a reliable and wallet-friendly alternative to commercial detergents.
When I buy laundry detergent instead, I wait for a good sale and stack it with a coupon – I rarely pay more than $2 a bottle.
This recipe makes 5 Gallons, it’s easy to make and use. You can cut the recipe in half if you don’t want to make so much.
Homemade Laundry Soap
Ingredients
- 4 cups boiling water
- 1 Bar Fels-Naptha soap or approx. 5 oz. Zote Soap, Castile, or Ivory Soap
- 1 cup Arm and Hammer Super washing soda
- 1 cup Borax
- 5-gallon bucket / Hot Water
- essential oil for scent (optional)
Instructions
- Heat 4 cups of water until boiling.
- While the water is heating Grate your Preferred bar soap ( use a cheese grater or food processor) and add to the boiling water. Stir continuously over medium-low heat until soap dissolves and is melted.
- Fill your 5-gallon bucket half full with HOT tap water, add washing soda, and borax, stir, add melted soap mixture, and stir well until all powder is dissolved.
- Fill the bucket the rest of the way to the top with hot water, stir, cover, and let sit overnight to thicken.
- The next day it should be lumpy with a partial gel-like consistency, Stir well and fill old laundry detergent containers, cleaned milk jugs, or whatever empty containers you prefer. You can add a few drops of essential oil for scent if you like.
- Shake well before each use. Use approx. 1/4 cup per load. If you have hard water you may want to add 1/4 cup white vinegar to your rinse cycle.
- Naturally softens hard water
- Improves cleaning power of detergent
- Safe for both standard and high efficiency machines
- Brightens and deodorizes clothes, bathrooms, kitchens, and more
- Helping you clean for over 100 years
- Boost Laundry Power Naturally: Put a kick in your clean by adding 20 MULE TEAM Borax Powder to your detergent. It helps your laundry detergent deep-clean fabrics, tackle stubborn stains and neutralize odors, leaving clothes cleaner, fresher, and brighter
- Multi-Room Cleaning: Spray onto a damp cloth or directly onto surfaces like walls, countertops, glass and vinyl tiles. Helps remove grease and grime from counters and appliances. Use to help remove soap scum, hard water deposits and dirt in bathrooms
- Deodorizes Laundry, Fabrics and More: Use this multi-purpose cleaner throughout your home to help deodorize and freshen the bathroom, mildew smells, refrigerators, and smelly shoes
- HE Compatible & Easy to Use: 20 MULE TEAM Borax Powder laundry booster is suitable for all washing machines. Just add 20 MULE TEAM Borax Powder to every load along with your regular detergent to help remove stains and help neutralize odors
- More Boxes, More Uses: This pack includes four 65 oz boxes of natural 20 MULE TEAM Borax Powder—great for laundry, cleaning tasks, preserving flowers, DIY crafting, and more! Keep a box in the laundry room or kitchen for quick access when you need it
- Then wash your clothes as you normally would and say farewell to tough stains for good
- All you’ve got to do is rub the stain with a wet bar of Purex Fels-Naptha and let it sit for a few minutes
- It is an effective soil and stain remover; Ideal for prewash spotting; of a kind product - nothing else like it; It can be used for general, garden, laundry uses, and treatment for poison ivy
- Purex Fels-Naptha Laundry Soap Bar is the ultimate Heavy-duty laundry bar soap; Used for pretreating greasy, oily stains like perspiration stains and ring-around-the-collar
- Made with coconut oil and tallow
- Contains optical brighteners
- Ideal size to wash by hand
- Natural non-abrasive ingredients
- Very popular amongst fishermen as catfish bait
- One 55 oz box of ARM & HAMMER Super Washing Soda Household Cleaner and Laundry Booster
- 100% fragrance-free and phosphate-free washing soda neutralizes and eliminates odors naturally without the use of heavy fragrances, leaving a long-lasting fresh and neutral clean scent
- As a laundry additive, it improves liquid laundry detergent performance by up to 15% (1), giving you cleaner, whiter and brighter laundry and upholstery (1) For mustard and blood stains vs leading value detergent alone
- Great general purpose cleaner for a wide variety of indoor and outdoor hard surfaces like sinks, stainless steel, bathtubs, garage floors and more, a must-have addition to your household cleaning supplies
- Use as a silver polish to remove tarnish from silver, gold, brass or copper to keep your jewelry, silverware and precious items looking their best
- SECURE SNAP-ON LIDS – Keep contents protected with included snap-on lids, perfect for food storage, pet food, paint, cleaning supplies, and more.
- DURABLE & HEAVY-DUTY – Built with thick, crack-resistant plastic and reinforced rings for added strength, making it ideal for tough jobs.
- BPA-FREE & FOOD-GRADE – These high-quality food grade buckets with lids ensure safe storage for bulk food, pet supplies, grains, and dry goods.
- ERGONOMIC CARRY HANDLE – Features a sturdy metal handle with a comfortable grip, allowing for easy transport of heavy loads.
- STACKABLE & SPACE-SAVING – The tapered design allows buckets to nest together when not in use, maximizing storage space in garages, basements, and workshops.
- MULTI-USE: Make storage a breeze with these multi-purpose 5-gallon buckets. Perfect for storing liquids, powders, oils, paints, fire chips, charcoal, as well as for fermenting and brining.
- FOOD GRADE: Protect the environment and the safety of stored foods with these BPA Free, Food Grade, Environment-safe durable plastic buckets.
- INDOOR AND OUTDOOR: Keep charcoal, fire chips, and fertilizer outdoors during the hot summer and store food products in the freezer with peace of mind in these heat and cold resistant buckets.
- STURDY FORM AND GRIP: Carry easily and avoid messy leakage and spills with the sturdy metal grip handles.
- REUSABLE QUALITY: Choose tough, durable, and reusable with these high-quality buckets. Ribbed ridges and heavy-duty construction maintain their shape and allow for simple and easy, neat stacking.
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