I’m excited to share with you this simple recipe on how to make your own laundry detergent. This recipe could save you money every year especially if you have kids or do a lot of laundry for other reasons. Many of you may wonder why I would want to make my own laundry detergent, especially since there are so many convenient options out there.

There are several reasons why I decided to do this post. First of all, I’m always looking for simple ways to do ordinary tasks with the least amount of ingredients as possible. Other laundry detergent has left irritations on my skin or made my clothes feel more rough. It is slightly annoying that regular detergents are so expensive. As far as chemicals are concerned, the grocery store brands are full of them. Who likes to pay to put more toxins in their house and clothes? Probably the biggest irritation for me, though, is that regular detergent can have so much perfume.

My first attempt at making my own detergent will be the powdered version. There are posts all over showing different way and different fragrances, so I’m loving that there are many options out there! Fresh scents for everyone, right? All of the research that I have done up to this point, has pointed to how well this detergent smells.

I’m partial to powdered recipes at the moment, as it is easy to load it into my front loader washer. You can make a liquid version of this, which I will add to this post at a later time. Some washers may respond better to a liquid version. However, to get started on this journey to a more natural laundry detergent, this could be a good start. After you decide the recipe works well for you and your family, then you can explore other methods and fragrances. A fun part for me, was finding a cute container to put my laundry detergent in.

Ingredients and Instructions for the Powdered Recipe to Make your own Laundry Detergent

• 1 cup of 20 Mule Team Borax, Natural Laundry Booster
• 1 cup of Arm & Hammer Washing Soda
• 1 bar of your favorite Dr. Bronner’s Castile Magic SoapDr. Bronner’s Castile Magic Soap, finely shredded (I love citrus; this is a for a variety pack)

Instructions: I use a food processor to shred my soap. However you can get a great little food processor or hand shredder here. After I shred my bar of soap, I broke it up a little bit further with my hands. The soap feels great on my hands, but I do not recommend rubbing your hands in Borax. Then, I add the other ingredients in my glass jar, and shake it up more.

Directions: For every medium load of laundry I use around 2 TBS of laundry detergent. I may add a pinch more if I am doing a large load.

Let me know what you think of this specific recipe or feel free to comment other alternatives that you like better.