New Twist on Homemade Powdered Laundry Detergent

New Twist on Homemade Powdered Laundry Detergent

I finally got around to making the homemade powdered laundry detergent.  On the internet, I’ve seen many recipes for making laundry detergent.  As always, I try to put a different spin on whatever homemade product I’m attempting.  So, instead of purchasing any additional items for this product, I used what I had at home already.  Some of the items are similar and some are different from the typical recipes. The most important thing was whether or not it actually cleaned my clothes.  So, here are the ingredients and the directions.  I must mention that I am totally impressed with this detergent! It works! It cleaned my clothes so nicely.  I, purposely, didn’t put any scented oil when whipping this up.  I wanted to smell the cleanliness of the laundry, instead of any perfume scent.

Ingredients:

  • 3 c Borax
  • 2 c Baking Soda
  • 3/4 cups dish liquid
  • 2 tbs hydrogen peroxide

Directions:

New Twist on Homemade Powdered Laundry Detergent

Pour 3 cups of Borax into a large bowl.

New Twist on Homemade Powdered Laundry Detergent

Add 2 cups of baking soda.

New Twist on Homemade Powdered Laundry Detergent

When adding the dish liquid, add 1/4 cup at a time. Stir to combine.  Then, slowly, add in the other cups, making sure to stir each before adding in the remaining dish liquid.  The dish liquid will start making little balls in the mixture. Don’t worry that it is getting wet.  You will let it sit out awhile to dry after mixing it in the food processor. I used Dawn Power Clean dish liquid for this recipe.  I like it because it seems to be so powerful, but I’m sure any ultra dish liquid would work just as well.  Remember, I said that I was using things that I already had in my house.

New Twist on Homemade Powdered Laundry Detergent

This is how the balls start to form after mixing in the dish liquid.

New Twist on Homemade Powered Laundry Detergent

Add in 2 tbs of hydrogen peroxide. We were having a homeschool lesson and I found out that hydrogen peroxide was used to whiten and clean clothes.  I’m only adding 2 tbs because I’m not sure how strong it actually works in clothes. Plus, I’m using this in dark clothes also and 2 tbs didn’t seem to affect the clothes at all, in terms of bleaching out my dark clothes.  When I remake this, I will try adding additional hydrogen peroxide.

New Twist on Homemade Powdered Laundry Detergent

Put mixture into a food processor.  I want to make the grains of this mixture really fine.  I make enough homemade products that I actually use this particular processor for making homemade items.  I’m sure if you only have one, you could easily just clean it out afterwards.

New Twist on Homemade Powdered Laundry Detergent

The mixture comes out really fine after going through the food processor.  If you look closely, you can see it has a blue-colored look.  This the due to the blue dish liquid that was used.   It needs to sit out and dry some since it will have a moist touch to it.  I put it in a large bowl to dry.  You could also spread it out on aluminum foil.  It should dry in a couple of hours.  Then, pour into a nice container.  When washing, put 3 tablespoons in a large wash load.  Adjust for smaller wash loads.

Have you tried making a homemade laundry detergent? How did it turn out?  Did you use any different types of ingredients? Most importantly, did you like the homemade laundry detergent?

 

Comments

  1. Smelling laundry detergent powder is very famous to house wife’s because it is very safety and should not contain any harmful hygienic elements.

  2. I’m a little confused about you using Hydrogen Peroxide. It comes in a dark bottle to protect it from being oxidized but not only did you pour it on to your powders but let it evaporate. That leads me to believe that the Hydrogen Peroxide was neutralized by the time you used it.

  3. I use the simular recipe that calls for bars of soap *I use my homemade olive soap*, borax, washing soda, and oxiclean. I’ve seen where alot of people use the crystals, from purax and downy, for a fabic softener and scent. I just want to let you know that if you want a cheaper way, instead of the crystals, use kosher salt. I love it and I think it works just as well. If you want to sent it, just add essential oil to the salt before adding to the rest.

  4. Wow. It’s very cool.
    It seems easy. I wanna try it.

    • I used my stand mixer to stir it, but instead of hydrogen peroxide I added 2 ounces of oxygen cleaner and dried it in a shallow baking pan. The fumes were pretty amazing! Smells like ammonia. I cannot wait for it to dry, so I can use it.

  5. Wow.. It’s very cool.
    It seems easy. I wanna try it.

  6. Sharon ,
    just made your detergent for a friend that wants more suds in her homemade detergent. I told her about yours and will give it to her Tues. It was as easy- peasy as you said to make, a big Thank You~

    • Hi Kate! You’re welcome! Thanks for passing the recipe along….

      • Sharon
        I’ve always made homemade laundry soap using an old family recipe from my great grandmother MARY. She used real laundry bars soap that you flake (shred with a cheese grater). She used Borax and Washing Soda known today by the popular phrase as laundry boosters, for a thorough clean.

        I like your twist too, because Dawn has enzymes in it to break down fats, protein and other stains. I must admit to using Borax and Washing Soda in mine, and purex scent crystals in my favorite scent, Fresh Spring Waters. It turned out great, and smells DIVINE..

        • Hi Kate! I might try the Purex scent crystals the next time. That’s the great thing about homemade, you can try so many different things and come out with a great product….

  7. Love is site, except you cannot copy the recipes and advice without printing all of the comments made. When I tried to copy the dishwasher tabs recipe, it printed 24 pages. A waste of ink and paper.

    • If u hit print preview. count how many pages the recipe is then you can adjust it tp print only those

    • Hi Lori! I hate when that happens, too. I see that someone answered you also. I was going to give the same advice. From experience, I now do print previews and only print the pages with the information. Hope you enjoy the detergent recipe. Have a wonderful day….

    • You also can highlight the info you want, copy/paste highlighted text into a word processing program, e.g. MS Word, then just print the page from the word processing program.

      In a pickle, just cancel the print job if it’s printing more pages than needed. Usually, there’s a cancel button on top of the printer or a cancel on the screen you can click. Hope this helps. The other suggestion of checking the print preview is always a good idea.

  8. Love what you are doing here, everything is homemade, plus it great stuff to keep your kids occupied!

  9. Love that everything here on the blog is homemade, such inspirng ideas! Love everything here, keep sharing!

  10. I love your take on this homemade laundry detergent! In fact, one of our co-hosts from The PINcentive Blog Hop chose you as week 5’s winner! CONGRATULATIONS! As a winner your content will get pinned a minimum of 31 times and we’d love for you to co-host our hop on the 14th :o) If you’d like to co-host; please contact me at your earliest convenience as I am working under a rather tight deadline. Thanks so much and I hope you’re having a wonderful weekend :o)

    croppedstories@gmail.com
    http://www.croppedstories.blogspot.com

    • Hi Elena! Wow! I’m super excited that I was chosen as week 5’s winner. How cool is that! I’ll be sure to stop by for the next PINcentive Blog Hop. Unfortunately, I won’t be able to co-host. Boo-hoo! Really hate that. But, perhaps I will win again (got my fingers crossed) and will be able to co-host then. Definitely love your blog hop!

      • No problem Sharon; I understand. You still, however, are entitled to priority seating which means I can enter the post you’d like to link up this week manually if you’d like ;o) If so, please feel free to forward the URL of the post you’d like linked up!

        croppedstories@gmail.com

  11. I need to start making my own. So practical. Pinning this! Thanks for sharing at All Things Pretty!

  12. It’s a long time now I’m thinking about making my own detergent. I’ll try your recipe! thanks!

  13. Sharon, this is awesome!!! I have never tried to make my own laundry soap before. I have looked online for recipes however could not find anything easy enough to my satisfaction. I love how yours has simple ingredients. Your tutorial was also very thorough. Maybe I could attempt a go at this one. Thank you for sharing!
    Have a wonderful weekend 🙂
    Bismah

  14. Wow this looks just like store bought and sounds so easy.

  15. Hi Sharon! The DIY powdered laundry detergent recipe looks easy! I will have to try it on old blankets that have been stored in our closet for a long time. Thank you for sharing the recipe!

    • Yes Keila, this is definitely an easy one. I like it for the fact that it actually makes my dish towels smell good. That’s a sign that it’s definitely a great cleaning product.

  16. I would have never thought to make my own detergent. It looks easy. Thank you for sharing this on our Four Seasons Blog Hop

  17. Great idea!

  18. I have a recipe on my blog @ http://essentialplanet.blogspot.com/.
    Check it out when you have time. It’s similar and has Lavender essential oils for a great toxic free scent! I use doTERRA Lavender. Also my face book page is https://www.facebook.com/essentialplanet. check it out and give me a LIKE if you don’t mind. I like those likes too! LOL

    • Thanks Peggy. I will definitely check out your recipe. I’m always interested in how others make their detergent. That lavender essential oil sound nice.

  19. Hi Sharon, I am going to have to try this, I have been wanting to make some, have you had any trouble with it clumping in the clothes, that is why I changed to liquid…but this looks fine enough not to do that, About how many load will you get out of this. Thanks for sharing!

    • Hi Margaret! I haven’t had any problems with it clumping at all. It does have a fine texture. I’m not quite sure how many loads I will get out of this. This is my first batch. I will keep track so that when I do an update on the detergent, I will have a count of loads that were done.

  20. I have always wanted to make my own detergent but didn’t really know how to do it. This definitely looks like something I could tackle!

    Thanks for sharing at Wine’d Down Wednesday! I hope to see you again next week!

    • Hi Kristin! I was the same way. Always wanting to attempt to make a batch of detergent. So, this time, I just decided to give it a go. Will know in the coming months if I’m still loving it.

  21. I love homemade laundry detergent, since developing my recipe I don’t use anything else, nothing else even compares. I like your idea of using products that you already have on hand. Thank you for sharing your recipe on this weeks Creative Muster. Now that you found our party I hope that you’ll continue to join us every Tuesday evening.

    • Hi Robin! I love this recipe! I don’t think that I’m turning back to the store-bought. This detergent cleans my clothes so nicely. Yep, I’m sticking with it.

  22. I have not tried this recipe yet but I will. I know I love the home made recipes for detergents much better than the ones that I used to buy. The home made ones do not fade my bright colors. I love lime green, orange and other bright colored clothes. I love the liquid det. that I have made. I will try this one soon tho.

  23. This is such a great recipe! I actually have everything (aside from the Borax) already on hand to make this. I love that you popped it in a pretty jar. 🙂

  24. I agree with Carla! I want to try homemade laundry detergent, but I have a front load HE. I`m not sure how it would work out. I like how you used hydrogen peroxide, we use that a lot at our house.

  25. I haven’t made my own laundry soap yet but have been wanting to try! Thanks for sharing your recipe over at WDW!

  26. Can’t wait to try this! Thanks so much for sharing.

  27. This is AMAZING! I have been researching different recipes for homemade laundry detergent to make my own, and I will be quoting yours as one of the greats when I finish making it and posting it to the blog. Great idea using the liquid soap!

  28. Ami Stanley says

    I have never used a home made detergent but have long wanted to try one. They are usually chocked full of ingredients that require a special trip to the store before making. I love this recipe because most all of these things we all keep on hand. Looking forward to trying it. I usually always add baking soda to my laundry anyway. I am amazed at all the wonderful uses for baking soda and peroxide, My favorite is whitening my teeth!! Thanks for the easy recipe.

    • Hi Ami! I read about the whitening teeth with peroxide. I haven’t tried it yet, but I’m definitely going to give it a go. I always put baking soda in the laundry also. That’s why I love the baking soda ingredient in this mix. There are so many items that we normally have in our house that can double as other cleaning duties. Thanks for stopping by….

  29. I have made 4 batches (8 gallons) of the liquid type laundry detergent over the past 3 months and have been really impressed with the results. There are 12 people living in my house and they all use the homemade stuff, we could never afford to purchase the name brand stuff. So far all the clothes, including whites, come out very clean. A nice side benefit is that the clothes come out of the dryer softer than when using the commercial laundry detergent and dryer sheets and softeners. Now we save not only on the cost of detergent but we don’t purchase dryer sheets or softener. The biggest plus is that, when using Ivory soap, it makes the detergent “all natural”, no skin irritations.

    • Hi John! I’m sure my next adventure will be to try and make the liquid version. I love trying out all kinds of homemade items. The ivory soap seems like a great idea. When I try the liquid version, I’ll keep that ivory soap in mind.

  30. I used a similar recipe for my laundry detergent but mine doesn’t include dish soap or peroxide. I bet it helps a lot though! I do pour a bit of peroxide in with the whites, though. Love that stuff!

    Found my way here through the Blog Hop Blitz!

    Here’s my blog (not to spam, but they said to!)
    http://happilyevercrafterz.blogspot.com/

    • Hi Catherine! I love the peroxide, too. It’s amazing. And to believe that I hadn’t concentrated on it earlier. I was so missing out….

  31. I’ve never done a detergent at home, ever!!! This seems very interesting to try it out. I really enjoy this, feels like when I was in lab back in high-school LOL. Thanks so much for sharing this with me at Bewitch Me & Titi! Hope to have you back with more amazing shares! Hope you are having a marvellous week!!!

    XOXO
    Cami @ TitiCrafty.com

    • Hi Camila! You’re welcome. It definitely feels like I’m in a lab creating stuff, especially, when I made the toothpaste concoction to whiten or brighten clothes. My kids always ask, “What are you doing now, Mom?”

  32. Whoa, its that easy? Who knew! I just might have to give that a try … thanks!
    Mary Frances @ http://www.thesweet-toothlife.blogspot.com

  33. This is wonderful! Thank you so much for sharing at This Momma’s Meandering Mondays! I am using up the store bought that I have and then I plan on switching to a home made version, this looks like an amazing recipe. Have a great week!

    • Thanks Stacey! This is really a super easy recipe to try. I was getting very low on my detergent I had already, so I decided to quickly make this homemade version. It’s definitely going to come in handy.

  34. I was definitely confused at first when I saw the liquids in the powdered detergent! Lol! Makes sense though after reading the entire post. I found an easy starter recipe for liquid laundry detergent that I’m going to try and blog about soon, too. Thanks so much for sharing with us at Mommy Monday! xoxo

    • Hi Brittnei! You’re welcome. I’m going to get around to doing a liquid laundry detergent, too. I have a long list of “to do homemade items.” That to-do list should keep me busy for a while.

  35. I’ve made my twist to the homemade laundry detergent and I love it, I may try to use the hydrogen peroxide on the clothes, and it doesn’t turn the color clothes white? thats interesting, I’ll try it out! Thanks for sharing!

    • Hi Trista! I haven’t had any problems with it affecting the color clothes since it is only a couple of tbs of hydrogen peroxide combined into the laundry detergent mix. You can try it out on a small load if you think it might hurt it or just use it for the whites and towels. Just washed colored clothes last night with the homemade powdered laundry detergent and had no problems.

  36. I need to try this I’m all for homemade remedies! Less expensive too!

    AmeriAus Blog

  37. I’m up for trying a new recipe. I’ve been making my own for a while now. I’m curious as to how homemade laundry detergents do in different types of machines. I had a front loader that broke but I’ve been using it in an old top loader with no issues.

    • Hi Michelle! You’re like me…I like trying new recipes. Though, I make lots of homemade items, this is my first time making the detergent. I have an old machine…12 years old. Been going strong. Will definitely let you know if I notice any problems. I have used both powdered and liquid throughout the years with no problems.

  38. Thanks for sharing this post. I have long wanted to create a home-made detergent. But I am quite curios if it can clean clothes well (just like the commercial detergents in supermarkets).

    • You’re welcome Tisha! It’s something about homemade products that just make you wanna try them out. This is my first go at this one and I must say that I’m liking it…for sure.

  39. You are super talented…

    • Thanks Bintu! Just continuously striving to make life a little easier for us if I can try to make it or create it myself. I do like this homemade detergent….

  40. I make my own laundry detergent too but it’s the liquid kind. I was told be a plumber that the powders can cake up your pipes over time but your powder looks so fine, I would imagine that it would dissolve really easily. Thanks for sharing.

    • Hi Pary! I’m not sure if it clogs up you pipes or not. I’ve used store-bought powder detergent quite a bit in the past. Normally, I use liquid. However, I didn’t have any problems when using the powdered detergent before. I’ve had my washer for 12 years and haven’t had a pipe problem, yet. Will keep the info in mind, though. Thanks.

  41. I have yet to try homemade detergent, but I keep reading so many success stories about it. I don’t typically use powder detergent, so how much do you put in the laundry?

    Stopping by from ShareFest!

    • Hi Kristia! This is my first attempt at the homemade detergent. I like how it’s cleaning the clothes! Normally, I use liquid detergent buy I didn’t want to make the homemade liquid version because I wasn’t sure how well it would keep. Didn’t realize that I forgot to put in how much to use. You would use 3tbs for a large wash and adjust for smaller washes.

  42. Very cool! I’ve never tried making my own detergent but I’d also be afraid to because I have an HE washer.

    • Thanks Carla! This is my first go at it. I’m loving it! I have one of those regular washers that I’ve had since we moved into our house 12 years ago.

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