Recently I added a Tipton Library educational program on Spring Cleaning. Some of the many tips that were compiled was making your own cleaners. I’ve been trying out several of the recipes and will be sharing them here on the blog. All of the ones I will share will be easy to make, work as well or better than store bought cleaners, and will save you money.

This recipe claims to be a year’s worth of laundry detergent. Time will tell for our household of six if this does last us a year.

• 1 box Borax – $3.38
• 3 bars Fels-Naptha Soap – $0.97/each = $2.91
• 1 box Washing Soda – $3,24
• 2 cups Baking Soda – $0.56 (8 cup box costs $2.24)
• 1  containers of Oxyclean  - $7.52
• Fabric softener crystals (optional) – $5.99 on sale at Meijer

Total Cost: $23.60

Use 1 – 2 tablespoons per load of laundry. If you have a HE washing machine, put directly in with your laundry. I haven’t had any issues with my laundry or my washing machine do so.

So if I did my math correctly, this makes this laundry detergent around $0.07 per load. For comparison purposes, Amazon sells Tide with Downy powder detergent for $17.90. This makes 53 loads or $0.33 per load! If you used coupons or bought an inexpensive brand, you could save even more on your store bought detergent.

Looking at these numbers, making your own at home seems to have significant savings and it takes less than 30 minutes to make. The part that took me the longest was going to the store and finding the ingredients. Walmart seems to have everything you need. The Meijer I went to first, did not have the Fels-Naptha or Zote, which you can use in lieu of the Fels-Naptha. The Walmart I did visit only had a 5-6 bars of Fels-Naptha left even in their store.

You can hand grate the Fels-Naptha soap or you can use a food processor or a Ninja Kitchen Prep like I did. Be careful using your food processor because I’ve read that some people have ruined their food processors trying to do this. The Ninja Kitchen Prep handled it with ease, though! :)

Several pulses with my Ninja and it looked like this….

Note: I rinsed with hot water several times before putting in the dish washer. It doesn’t have a soapy taste to it at all. In fact, it looked cleaner than it has for awhile! LOL

After that is done, mix all the other ingredients together in a large container or use a kitchen trash bag if you don’t have a large container.

Then you can put it in smaller containers for your laundry room. I used a ice cream bucket that I knew I was saving for a reason.

I purchased several measuring cups and spoons for $1 and I”m using the tablespoon to measure out for the detergent.

Find more DIY Household Cleaners and Spring Cleaning and Organizing posts.