There are so many homemade laundry detergent recipes out there! With the cost of everything being astronomical I’m looking to cut back and save anywhere I can! Honestly I’ve been wanting to try my own detergent for a good while.
I knew I wanted a simple recipe that was as natural as possible. I found this three ingredient one using shredded bars Castile soap, Borax, and super washing soda. It checked both of my boxes!
You will need those 3 things mentioned above as well as a 5 gallon bucket for storage, a 1/4 measuring cup, and distilled water. There are a number of ways to scent this, or it could be unscented. I soaked lemon balm in a quart mason jar overnight, strained, and added the liquid to the bucket.
On the stove I melted the shredded Castile soap (2 bars), in half a gallon of distilled water. Once it was melting well I added 1 cup of each Borax and washing soda. I stirred until dissolved. In the bucket I dumped 4 gallons of distilled water, I wanted to ensure I had space for stirring. Then I added my lemon balm, finally after cooking for about 10 minutes I added the soap mixture. Stir stir stir!
The laundry soap needs to sit overnight and then is ready to use! I put 1/2 cup in my super loads, but if you aren’t borderline washing too much laundry like me, 1/4 cup would be sufficient.
Next time I think I will work on a different scent, or perhaps steep more lemon balm leaves and do a larger ratio of that. I can however use dryer balls with essential oils to oomph up the scent without adding harmful artificial scents I want away from.
I think it’s also worth noting this could probably be scented with essential oils, but would likely need more ingredients. I chose to scent as naturally as possible so that method was herbs out of my mom’s garden.
