Greener, healthier and cheaper homemade detergents.

I ran out of laundry detergent and decided to try to make my own. Why not? I already make my own dishwasher detergent, deodorant, all-purpose cleaner, body butter, after shave for my husband and so on.

I read recipes online and found this site helpful. My close by stores didn't have washing soda so I used only baking soda and altered the recipes a little bit. I made two to try out different ones.

Laundry detergent 1 (hmmm, original recipe said this would be powdered, but I would call it foam and later liquid)
USE 1/2 cup per full load

1/4 cup Dr. Bronner's liquid soap (original recipe says castile soap)
2 cups baking soda (original recipe says 1 cup washing soda, 1 cup baking soda)
1 cup white vinegar
25 drops lavender essential oil (optional)
10 drops tea tree essential oil (optional)

This was hard to make because vinegar and the baking soda foams (looked at some point a bit like whipped egg whites!). Add vinegar in small batches to the soda and mix well.

Laundry detergent 2 (powdered)
USE 2 tbsp per load

1 cup borax
1 cup baking soda
1 bar castile soap, grated
1/2 cup sea salt
25 drops lavender essential oil (optional)

Not any onf the recipes I have found have salt, but I read it is a great stain remover so I wanted to try it. After trying both detergents once they seem to work fine. I will report further after using them for a longer time.

I make most of my other detergents myself too.


Homemade dishwasher detergent (works when washing by hand or in the machine too)

2 cups liquid castile soap
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup white vinegar
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
A few drops tea tree oil (sometimes I add other oils too like eucalyptus, lemon or orange)

Homemade window cleaner / all purpose cleaner

Spray bottle
1 cup vinegar
1-2 cups water
a couple of drops of liquid soap