Homestead laundry detergent

About a year ago I decided to start making my own laundry detergent, after the eco-friendly one I'd been buying at the store became prohibitively expensive.  Homemade powdered detergent is extremely easy to make and is gentle to the environment in addition to being kind to the pocketbook.  I would guess $5 worth of this lasts about four months, and I do laundry for a family of 5 each week, which translates to 6 - 7 loads.  (And of course there's occasionally a mat or rug that gets soiled due to a pet accident, so some weeks it's 8 loads, easily.)  Bottom line:  This powdered detergent goes a long way, and costs only a few pennies per load. And gets the job done well.


Here is the recipe, courtesy of Planet Green:

Powdered Detergent

2 cups finely grated soap
1 cup washing soda
1 cup borax

1. Mix well and store in an airtight plastic container.

2. Use 2 tablespoons per full load.

I use Fels Naptha soap, which costs about a dollar a bar and is available at WalMart.  Washing soda is available there as well (I haven't found either item anywhere else around here) and borax is found in the detergent section of most supermarkets.  Note that washing soda is NOT the same as baking soda, despite the similarity in packaging.  Washing soda is much stronger.

I break the Fels Naptha bar into small pieces before putting them into the food processor to grate finely (you could do this by hand, but the food processor is faster and easier unless you are working on Popeye arms).  Then mix in the other ingredients and you're good to go.  It's smells nice and looks pretty good too, as you can see from the pic (the finished product is on the far right in the mason jar).