All Natural Laundry Detergent

After some experimenting with a liquid recipe, and several months on regular Arm and Hammer laundry detergent, I was ready to give a powder laundry detergent recipe a try.

After several months of using our liquid laundry detergent, Daniel and I were shocked to find that the first two weeks we used the store bought kind our skin was red and itchy! Nasty chemicals.

I wasn't crazy about the liquid recipe I used though. I didn't feel like my clothes were fresh enough, and never felt like I got the detergent to gel just as it was supposed to. And it didn't lift stains hardly at all.

We'll be cloth diapering our little one, so I've been on the look out for something gentle enough to use for Baby, but powerful enough to wash our clothes, and towels with.

I really, really think I've found it. Of course I won't know how well it works with mustard colored dirty diapers for another month or so, but if towels and very dirty clothes are any scale to judge by, I'd say this stuff is AWESOME. Not only did it clean my clothes superbly, the clothes that I laid out to dry that usually end up stiff and uncomfortable were dryer-soft!

1 bar Dr. Bonner's soap  - your choice of scent. I used lavender. (about 4 bucks)

1 cup washing soda (about 70 cents)

1cup Borax (about 70 cents)

1/4 cup Eco-store pure oxygen whitener (about 91 cents)
(oxyclean works, I've heard, but then you're getting into those nasty chemicals again...)

I went ahead and bought the Eco store whitener, because oxy clean just smelled too chemically. I love the Eco stuff already. I'm very impressed with it. It was about the same price per ounce as OxyClean, too, so I felt like it was well worth it.

Directions:

Grate the bar of soap - 

Blend all the ingredients together:

Add to a jar for storage:

Use 1 Tablespoon for a light-normal load, and 2 Tablespoons for a heavy load.

Enjoy fresh, clean laundry without chemicals, phosphates, dyes, perfumes or chlorine.


And at a fraction of the cost. Did you do the math when you read the recipe? A batch of this detergent makes about 60 loads and costs roughly  $6. 


Yeah, you heard me. Six. Bucks.


And if you buy the Dr. Bonner's on sale, or at Vitacost it might even cost you a little less.


I've already decided next time I make it to triple the recipe!