How to Make Your Own Liquid Laundry Soap (HE Washer Safe)

This is a REALLY easy and fun way to be more green and to save lots of cash.  When you make your own laundry soap at home, you can do 20 loads of laundry for the same price you pay for one load using Tide.  20 loads!  And it smells however you want it to smell since you add your own essential oils.

Since we started working as Innkeepers at Foothills Lodge and Cabins last October, we purchased our initial investment of supplies and haven't had to buy any additional ingredients since.  We still have LOTS left and that was over 6 months ago!  Running to the store because we've run out of laundry soap is a thing of the past around here. I will give you a list of the supplies you will need to purchase as well as links to websites for the stuff that isn't found at most stores, and I will provide pictures of each item as well as pictures of each step of the process.  We live 47 miles away from the nearest big box store or large grocery store so if we can find all the ingredients, I know you can too!  Okay, let's get started!

What you will need:

A Stove

One Large Stock Pot

A long spoon for stirring

A 5 Gallon Bucket

2 Cups of Washing Soda (Soda Ash)

2 Cups of Borax

1/4 Cup Dr Bronners Liquid Castille Soap

15-20 drops Essential Oil

Hot Water

You will need a big stock pot.

And some soda ash, also known as Washing Soda, which is baking soda's tougher big brother.  We got a 50lb bag of it for $38 and you can see how much we've used so far.  Buy Your Washing Soda HERE

This stuff is AMAZING.  Much of the same stuff we use to make our laundry soap can also be used to make all-purpose cleaner and bathroom cleaner.  A couple drops of  Dr Bronners goes a long, long way.  The heavily worded label and the history behind the soap are REALLY interesting, too.  

 We usually use lavender but one of the coolest things about making your own soap is that YOU get to decide how it smells.  And, added bonus, many of the oils available are antibacterial or antifungal which is great for getting your clothes even cleaner.  You can find these at most all health food stores.

Some recipes Ken found while researching how to make our own laundry soap call for vinegar to be added into the detergent, but he found it works better when he adds it to our fabric softener slot in the washer.  When we do this it rinses through after the soap has, and for whatever reason when we do this we don't need to use dryer sheets.  Even living at 8200 feet where it is VERY dry, we don't get shocked anymore.  I really hated that so this was one NICE discovery (thank you for the idea, Dad).

Okay, now that you have all of your supplies gathered, let's take a look at the actual process:

First fill the stock pot to about this full with hot water.  We don't filter ours but it's not a bad idea.

Then add two cups of Borax.

And two cups of Washing Soda (soda ash).

This looks HUGE for some reason, but it's really only 1/4 cup, I promise.  Dr Bronners liquid Castille Soap comes in lots different "flavors" including rose, hemp, citrus, and almond to name a few, but our favorite (right now) is the lavender.  They all smell absolutely fantastic so if you don't know which one to get, don't stress it too hard.  It's gonna smell and work great no matter what scent you get.  Go ahead and get the big one, too, since there are so many uses for Bronners Soap.  There is not a single health food store or pharmacy in the entire country that doesn't carry Dr Bronners (seriously, it's true) but if you want to get it online:
Buy Your Dr Bronner's Soap Here

Pour the Borax and Washing Soda in the water.

Give it a stir.  It's not boiling but it's getting pretty hot so be careful!

Add the 1/4 cup of Dr Bronners.

Add about 15-20 drops of oil.

Give it another quick stir.  I would suggest using a longer spoon that Ken is using here.  :)

 Right before your lovely smelling concoction comes to a boil, remove it from the burner and pour the contents into an empty 5 gallon bucket.  

Then fill up the stock pot again with HOT water and pour that into the bucket.  It will just about fill the bucket, and that's what you want.

See how it's almost full?  The size of your stock pot might make this a little different, so just remember that the recipe makes 5 gallons, so if you have to add a little more or a little less, that's okay, just as long as you end up with 5 gallons.  

And that's it!  Wasn't that simple??  Cover the bucket and let it stand over night.  In the morning when you take the lid off it will be ready to use.  Don't worry if there are little clumps of stuff in it.  That is perfectly normal and those dissolve easily when you start the load.  It might look kinda funky compared to that thick, pretty stuff you're probably used to, but it's not about how it looks, it's about how your clothes look, and they will look (and smell) FANTASTIC!

We put our finished product in recycled bleach bottles. 

And we tie a ribbon on them so we know which ones have detergent in them and which ones contain that nasty old bleach.  Honestly, we do still use some bleach here at the Lodge because people are really tough on our all-white linens and we have yet to find anything tough enough to remove the really bad stains.  Peroxide works on a lot of things, but not everything!  Do you have any suggestions for what to use instead of bleach?

Leave a comment if you have any questions.  And I'd love to hear about if you try this yourself!
Thanks!