Laundry Detergent (liquid version)

2 Fels Naptha (or Zote) soap bars
1 C Borax
1/2 C Superwash
1/2 C Oxyclean (dollar store brand, same ingredients half the price) 6 C of water 5 gallon bucket

Essential oils are optional, some like tea tree or lavender, and just a few drops per bucket will do!

Please read through, and use caution while making this recipe, do not seal the bucket air tight.

Start by grating the soap bars. Gently heat 6 cups of water. Slowly add a handful at a time of the soap flakes to the 6 cups of water. Stir thoroughly and dissolve. Be sure to dissolve each handful, do not add more until there are no chunks left in the liquid.

Fill 3 1/2 gallons of water into the 5 gallon bucket. For me it’s helped to mark the outside of the bucket with a permanent marker so I know where the fill line is. After you get the water in the bucket, pour the soap solution into the water and give it a good stir. Mix the water solution with a bucket paint stick, or a yard stick or whatever you have on hand that’s long enough. You will notice it to start to thicken as you mix it. Now set the lid on top of the bucket but DO NOT SEAL IT This solution still needs oxygen, do not shut the lid onto the bucket or you will have a huge mess possibly a mini explosion if the lid is air tight!!! You still need the lid on top so that it stops dust and debris, but do not seal the edges of the lid.

Find an undisturbed place in your house, a garage or basement, and let the bucket sit, without the lid air tight for 24 hours.

After your solution has worked it’s magic for 24 hours, you’re now ready to mix it for use. This end product will be super thick! Like a gluey slime. It will be all one big lump until you mix it so do not feel like a failure, or be alarmed, that is how it is supposed to be! Because I only have a hand held electric mixer and not one of those fancy puree wands, or a concrete bucket mixer for a drill (you can certainly use those) I just get right in there with my hands. First breaking up all the big chunks as best I can, and then using my yard stick to smooth out the rest of it. Keep in mind as the days go on, you will need to give it a good stir everyday, but it will never lump back up to the way it was when you first made it, so it wont be difficult to maintain, just give it a mix to prevent separation.

I use 1 full measuring cup (not a detergent cap) for a regular size load. If its a small load, I use less, if its a large load, I use more, really the preference is yours depending on what you’re washing.

I hope this helps all of you, and you at least try it once! Keep in mind that commercial detergent has a ton of harmful added ingredients, to preserve the detergent so it has a longer shelf life, and to concentrate the liquid so that it seems stronger. Things like SLS (sodium laurel or laureth sulfate) is added into detergents, soaps, even your toothpaste, and is a bubble creating chemical, to give you the illusion of ‘clean’. When in fact is nothing more than foam. You could add SLS to any liquid and it will appear foamy once lathered, but that certainly doesn’t mean that its cleaning or even safe. Read your labels, and be consumer aware!