Homemade Laundry Detergent

Anyone who has dogs understands how much extra laundry you go through in a week. Towels, towels, towels. Every time it rains, we need one for their paws, another by the door because they still find a way to get the floor wet, and of course, one for drying them because that's their favorite part. I swear they go out in the rain sometimes just to be dried later. I can appreciate that; I would love being snuggled with a towel too. I digress. On top of all the towels, the blankets on the couch need a little bit of extra love because my pups are spoiled and therefore pretty much own the couch. Forget me wanting to ever sit on it! And wait for it.. my dogs have their own special pillows that they sleep on and since drooling happens, the pillowcases need washing a bit too often. Oh, and don't forget the fiance! Yeah.. we do laundry fairly often around here.

I have always been a liquid detergent kind of girl, but hated all the money I spent on it. And don't even get me started on all the packaging polluting this planet. Oh man! You can imagine what a relief it's been when I learned I can make my own, with only 5 simple and inexpensive ingredients that can be found in the laundry isle in most stores. It's also reassuring to know exactly what's in my detergent.

Since most of the ingredients are powder, I just combine them together in a bin that can be sealed tightly to prevent clumping and mix together with my hands. I use a grater to shred the soap bars, which surprisingly, doesn't take too much effort. However, I once asked my fiance to help and being a man, he needed a quicker and easier solution. So that's when the food processor came into the picture. It actually worked grate! (see what I did there?) I also added Downy Unstoppables to this batch for some extra fragrance, but I usually leave it out because i found it does great on it's own. It's really a preference thing.

Depending on the size of your load, use about 2 tablespoons of the mix. Oxiclean comes with a measuring scoop which I've been using, but if you prefer, you can buy a stainless steel coffee scoop. My clothes (and dog towels) come out squeaky clean and smell fantastic! Not to mention all the money I saved. All of the ingredients cost me less than $30 (only about $20 if you skip the scent booster) and lasted much much longer than the 3 containers of liquid detergent I could have bought with this money. 

Ingredients

• 55 Ounces Super Washing Soda
• 4 Pounds Pure Baking Soda
• 4 Pounds Borax
• 3 Pounds OxiClean
• 3 Bars of Laundry Soap
• 19.5 Ounces of Scent Booster Laundry Beads (Optional)

Also need

• An air-tight container
• Measuring scoop
• Grater (or food processor)

Instructions

1. Combine all powdered ingredients in the bin and mix with your hands.
2. Grate the soap bars, or use a food processor for quicker shredding.
3. Add a scent booster, if you like. And that's it!