DIY Laundry Detergent (No Grating, No Cooking, EASY!)

It's all over Pinterest and DIY blogs-- homemade laundry detergent.

I was very skeptical and thought, Pshhh, I'll just keeping buying detergent.

It all seemed like too much work.  I didn't want to spend my day grating any bars and cooking anything I couldn't eat.

On the flip side, I hate having to run to the store just for laundry detergent.  Uhhh.

I am not a detergent diva.  I always buy the cheapest.  Sun brand detergent has washed my clothes for most of my life.  Even though I wasn't shelling out a ton of money for brand name detergent, I'm always open to saving even more money, and making detergent seemed pretty economical.

I started googling and searching Pinterest for an easy way to make detergent.  I think I've finally hit the jackpot.

I found a recipe on the blog One Good Thing.  You can head over to her page to see how she originally made the detergent.  There's also hundreds of comments left by others to answer questions you may have.  I have been using this mix for a couple months now and don't have any complaints.  I've made the mix more concentrated than the original recipe called for.

Save some empty detergent bottles to put your new mix in.  I used a 100 oz. bottle and a 50 oz. bottle.

To fill a 50 oz. bottle:

3 tablespoons of Borax

3 tablespoons of Washing Soda

2 tablespoons of Dawn

(Double each of these for 100 oz. bottle.)

Put each of these in your bottle and then fill it halfway with hot water.  Use extremely hot water straight from your faucet.  It needs to be hot enough to dissolve everything.

Shake the bottle until everything is mixed together.

Let it cool to room temperature, and then fill the rest of the way with cool water.  It may foam up and bubble over, but that will eventually go away.

Each time you go to use the detergent, give it a little shake to make sure you're getting everything mixed together. 

If it's important to you to have the great smell that comes with fancy detergents, think about adding something like Downy Unstopables to your wash.  The homemade detergent will smell like whatever Dawn you use, but it's not a strong smell.  I'm finding that the laundry beads like Downy are perfect for things like clothes and towels that I like have a strong smell, but I can leave them out for things like rags.  I get the Unstoppables when I have a coupon or their on sale, so in the end, I still save a TON of money by making my own detergent.

I can made this detergent in no time, and all of the ingredients can be found at the grocery store.

I'd love to know if any of you have made it or wind up making it!