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Best Non-Toxic Homemade Laundry Detergent

This recipe very well could be the formula for the Best Non-Toxic Homemade Laundry Detergent out there. It's very gentle but also very effective.

Servings: 80 loads

Ingredients

  • 1 4 oz bar Castile soap I use Kirk's brand
  • 1¾ cup borax
  • 1¾ cup washing soda
  • 1½ cup baking soda
  • 5 tablespoons sodium percarbonate (or 1 1/4 cup Oxi Clean Free)
Optional Essential Oils for Mold Prevention
  • 15 drops Tea Tree Oil
  • 15 drops thyme oil
  • 15 drops lemon oil

Instructions

    Cup of Yum
  1. Grate the castile soap with a grater.
  2. Put the grated castile soap pieces in a food processor bowl. Pulse until only large crumbs (no chunks) remain.
  3. Add remaining ingredients to the food processor and alternate pulsing and blending until well combined.
  4. Store detergent in an air-tight container to help avoid clumping.
  5. Simply add about 2 tablespoons directly into your washer bin with your clothes (you might want to only use 1 tablespoon for HE front loaders. Add more, if desired, for larger or more heavily stained loads.

Notes

  • Alternative to Grating Soap: You can also simply chop up the Castile soap bar instead of grating it, but grating will help the food processor work better with less risk of damaging the blades.
  • Clumping Prevention: If you live in a humid climate, your laundry detergent can have a tendency to clump up. To help avoid that, you might wish to keep a dessicant in with your detergent.
  • Borax Substitute: If you aren't comfortable using it, or just don't have borax in your home, you can use more baking soda in its place. I haven't tried it, but it should work out fine since baking soda has similar properties to borax of softening water, deodorizing, and boosting laundry detergent.
  • You can dissolve the detergent in water before using if you find it makes it work better. Just add the liquid directly to the drum.