Homemade Liquid Laundry soap

An "all natural," quick an easy way to make laundry soap using three main ingredients.

Large Batch of Detergent:
1 Bar Fels Naptha -
1 1/2 Cups Arm and HammerWashing Soda
1 1/2 Cups Borax
4 1/2 gallons of water

6 one gallon containers with lids. If using smaller containers, you will need more.

Chop the bar of Fels Naptha into marble size pieces and melt over medium heat in 2-3 quarts of water. (This takes @ 30 - 40 minutes). Once melted, add in the washing soda and borax. Simmer 3-4 minutes, making sure powders have dissolved. In a 5 gallon bucket add one large pot of HOT water. Add your soap mixture to the bucket and stir well. Add more hot tap water to within 2 - 3 inches from top of bucket. Stir. Using a funnel, while mixture is still hot, pour into empty containers. Old laundry containers, Clorox, and vinegar bottles are heavier duty and great to use. I initially used rinsed out milk containers until I had enough of the other bottles. Leave about 4 inches of head space. Place lids on top. Wait 24 hours for detergent to set up before using. You will need to shake the bottles quite a bit to break up the chunks of detergent that will form after it sets up. Detergent will stay a little clumpy. Lightly shake bottles before each use.

Use 1/2 cup detergent for regular loads. 3/4 to 1 cup for heavily soiled.

For Front Loading Machines: Use half the amount. This is a low suds detergent.

Small Batch of Detergent:
1/3 bar Fels Naptha
1/2 cup washing soda
1/2 cup borax1 1/2 gallons of water.

Use a 3 gallon bucket.
Melt the soap in 2 quarts of water and then add your washing soda and borax. Mix til dissolved. Add 4 quarts of HOT water to your bucket. Add soap mixture to bucket and mix well. Pour into smaller containers. Let set up for 24 hours. Shake before use.

Cost of Ingredients

Fels Naptha: I pay $1.06 per bar. Use one bar per five gallon bucket

Arm and Hammer Washing Soda: I pay $2.99 per box. This will make approximately 4 - 5, five gallon buckets of laundry soap.

Borax: I pay $3.15 per box. This will make approximately 6 five gallon buckets of laundry soap.

So if you purchase 5 bars of Fels Naptha, one box each of the washing soda and borax, you can make five (5) gallon buckets of laundry soap for about $12.00. This makes the cost of each five gallon bucket $2.40. 

One 5 gallon bucket makes approximately 144 half cup loads of laundry. This comes out to less than 2 cents per load!!

I love this detergent. In my opinion, it works just as well as the name brand detergents. I have many friends and relatives who also like this detergent. We are a family of four and a 5 gallon bucket lasts me quite a while. I make this detergents about 2 - 3 times per year. It takes less than one hour each time I make it.