DIY Liquid Laundry Soap

DIY Liquid Laundry Soap

By:  Angelia Duenas

November 22, 2021

Tide, Gain and many other big name store brand laundry detergents are not inexpensive at all.  In fact, unless you find a really good sale, they can be quite expensive.  The purpose of this blog, is to show you how to make your own natural cleaning products for your home, which will be so much better for your family's health and cheaper on your family's budget.  

Making your own cleaning products most certainly will help your family's health more than anything else, due to the fact that there are no artificial fragrances in them, or chemical ingredients you cannot pronounce.  A lot of the common ingredients in store bought products may possibly have horrible side effects, ranging from allergic reactions to infertility, and even birth defects.

Eventually, you will have all the recipes you may ever need to make almost every household product you may need for almost every purpose imagineable that you require to clean and maintain your home, yard and more.  We will take our journey one DIY recipe at a time.  It can get expensive switching your lifestyle to 100% natural all at once.  

This is the recipe for liquid laundry detergent that I feel is most economical, and it still does a good job of cleaning your laundry.  It is so much less expensive than most store bought detergents, and it doesn't have the chemicals in it that could possibly harm you or your family members and/or cause allergic reactions.  

This recipe makes five gallons of liquid laundry soap that will wash 48 loads per gallon.  That equals a total of 240 loads of laundry for 5 gallons of liquid laundry detergent.  

You will still have plenty of Super Washing Soda and Borax left to make a few more batches.  You should only have to buy the first ingredient in the ingredient list the second time you make this recipe.  JUST THINK OF ALL THE MONEY YOU WON'T BE SPENDING ON TIDE OR GAIN EVER AGAIN!!

A great idea for saving money is to start a savings account, and put the difference between the same quantity of your previous brand of store bought cleaning products and your new diy cleaning products into a fund for something you really want or need.  Maybe you want a much needed vacation or a new piece of furniture you've been wanting, but you couldn't afford it.  Wouldn't that be a great way to show off your savings?

This is just the first option of the four I am writing about as a replacement for your store bought laundry detergent, Option #1 - Liquid Laundry Soap.  You will be presented with three other detergent options, a Powder Laundry Soap (which I have also used many times and like), a Tablet Laundry Soap (which I have also used, and it works very well too), and lastly, Soap Nuts which you may never have heard of, but some of you may.  

Soap Nuts are unique and different from anything ever used in my home growing up, but they are a great way to wash your laundry and 100% natural as well.  I will explain how they work to clean your laundry, how to use them, and the cheapest way to purchase them, and from whom to purchase them.  

These will be three other DIY all-natural natural options for you to choose from as your new "natural" laundry soap.  Whichever method works best for you is what you should choose.  They all work well, but it is up to you about as to what type of laundry soap you like best.

Zote Soap Bar
This bar is 14.1 ozs, & Fels Naptha
is 5.8 ozs., so if you use Zote,
you will have to use just part of the bar.


DIY Liquid Laundry Soap Recipe (Option #1)

This recipe makes 5 gallons of detergent, and each gallon will wash 48 loads of laundry, if you use the recommended amount of 1/3 cup per load.  You can save water or milk jugs to put your detergent into to save even more money.

• 1 Bar Fels Naptha Soap or Zote Soap (Both are found in the laundry section of your grocery or department store, and both of these soaps are usually $1.00 each plus tax, no matter which brand you choose.)
• 1-1/2 cups Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda, not "baking soda" (A box is $4.16 at my local store in the laundry section, a 55 oz box)
• 3/4 cup Borax (Box is $4.28 at my local store in the laundry section, a 65 oz box)
• Water (Should get distilled water or boil water to keep bacteria out of your detergent)
• Essential Oil(s) of Your Choice -  I prefer to use a citrus scent or a citrus blend of orange, lemon, lime and grapefruit using equal drops of each essential oil, or you can try the Thieves Essential Oil Blend because of its antibacterial, antimicrobial, antifungal, antimicrobial and antiviral properties, which makes either blend a perfect addition to help your clothes come out clean and smelling great as well.  
• With all of the properties the recommended essential oils I mentioned have, no germs, bacteria, viruses, fungi, or microbes will survive the wash cycle.)  ( This is a good basic set of 12 essential oils to start this DIY journey with for $42.99, which is only $3.58 per bottle, and that's an excellent price for good oils)
• 5 - 1 Gallon Milk Jugs or Any Other Type of Gallon Jugs 
• Funnel

Picture of Ingredients Listed in Recipe

Save water jugs, juice jugs, whatever gallon jugs that come your way, and use them for lots of purposes like this one.  You also can cut out the top quarter of  milk jug leaving the handle side for carrying purposes and use them to start plants in because they make great planters.  They would work for a single plant by itself probably permanently.  You can poke holes in the bottom of the jug for excess water to run off, and not keep the soil soaked

Start out by filling each of the gallon jugs halfway with water (I recommend either using boiled water or distilled water, so there is no bacteria growth in your liquid detergent, but you can use tap water if you prefer.)  Put 10 to 20 drops of essential oils in each jug depending on how strong you want the scent.

The next step will be to grate the bar of Fels Naptha or Zote soap.  I like to use my Ninja, but you can use a food processor or hand grater as well.  Put the soap shavings in a large 4-quart or larger boiler or stock pot with 8 cups of water.  

Warm the soap and water on medium heat until the soap completely dissolves.  If it begins to boils, turn the heat down a little bit.  YOU DO NOT NEED TO LET THIS BOIL!  

The gel that forms during this part of the process is kind of milky, and you have to really check to see if the soap shavings are melted completely.  Once the soap is melted all the way remove it from the heat.  

Now add the next two ingredients, the Super Washing Soda and the Borax.  Add this mixture to two more gallons of water and mix well.  

With your funnel, fill each gallon jug the rest of the way with the mixture of water and melted soap shavings to the top of each of the containers.  

Replace the cap to the jug and shake it very well to mix the ingredients together properly.  

DIRECTIONS FOR WASHING:  Shake the gallon jug each time you use it, then add 1/3 cup of the liquid detergent to your washing machine once the water is running.

Make sure you label your containers with a Sharpie, or use some sort of sticker type label that you can write on and stick that on the jug.  Cover the label with regular invisible tape or clear package tape, so if liquid or dirt gets on the label, it won't ruin it, and make the writing unreadable.  This way, you can reuse the jugs for other purposes if needed.

© by Angelia Duenas, on November 5, 2021.  All rights reserved.