In an effort to be more green, cut down on chemicals, save money, etc . . . and the fact that we finally have a place with our very own washer and dryer . . . I decided in 2013 to make our own laundry detergent. Recipes for these are not hard to find it’s just deciding which one you want to use. I chose to go with Liz Marie, for a few reasons – 1. I like how she gives a 1 year review so I know what to expect. 2. She talks about how to prevent the hardening. 3. Most importantly, my hubbers is obsessed with oxyclean, and I wanted there to be a stain fighter in my recipe.

Here’s what you’ll need . . .

1. One four pound twelve ounce box of Borax. You can use 2 smaller boxes.
2. Three bars of Fels-Naptha soap. You can use any soap of your choice.
3. one four pound box of arm & hammer baking soda.
4. one box of arm & hammer super washing soda
5. four pounds of Oxy Clean
6. Laundry softener cyrstals for scent.

and here’s the how to . . .

1. Grate the fels-naptha bars into a bowl
2. dump fels-naptha into a large container
3. Mix all other ingredients into the bucket & shake it all up together.
4. Place into container of your choice

You can find this all at your local grocery store or amazon.com . . . I did go to a super target and couldn’t find some of it (like the bars of soap), but every other grocery store I frequent has it all (walmart,kroger,marsh).

I have a 64oz rubbermaid container from target to keep what we’re not using in. With the lid snapping shut it will prevent the hardening, and it’s really convenient to store in a cabinet with the rest of my cleaning supplies. It was also really easy to just dump everything in and then let my husband mix it all up (so he could touch the oxyclean, boys are weird).

The cute little 1 gallon glass container that I keep on top of the dryer along with the homemade fabric softener is refilled about 4 months from that rubbermaid. It’s very easy, convenient, and neat. My favorite 3 words.

This cost me (with the containers) about $25 and usually lasts me over a year. Every recipe I found says it lasted them a year, and I only have 2 people so our first bath made in late 2013 lasted us until the beginning of 2015. We’ve got about 4 or 5 months left of that round. $25 = 1+ year of laundry, that’s bomb.com.