Homemade Laundry Detergent with Essential Oils

Learn how to make a fresh natural homemade laundry detergent that smells fresh from the essential oils. Not only is this recipe so easy, it ends up way cheaper than buying any detergent, let alone a natural one, from the store!

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Why make your own homemade laundry detergent?

What got me hooked to making my own homemade laundry detergent is just how plainly simple the process is! Not only does it take 30 minutes to put together, but these ingredients are things I have on hand pretty much all the time anyway! Also, this five-gallon bucket of laundry detergent lasts me for months.

While traditional laundry soap is packed with synthetic ingredients and fragrances that are toxic for you, this homemade laundry detergent cleans your clothing squeaky clean without causing any allergies. Additionally, the essential oils smell so lovely and have wonderful therapeutic properties as well.

Ingredients

• 1 cup washing soda
• 1 cup borax
• 5 oz Fels-Naptha bar soap, like these
• 5 gallons of water
• essential oils(optional)

Materials

• 5 gallon bucket
• grater
• saucepan
• bowl(preferably glass)

Even though all these ingredients are pretty clean, I use my spare grater and bowl, specifically set aside for my DIY projects. This way your kitchen bowl and grater do not give off a soapy taste when you use it;)

Preparation

1. To start, pour water about 3/4 full into a 5 gallon bucket.
2. Next, add in a cup of borax and a cup of washing soda into the bucket and stir well.
3. Then you’ll need to grate a 5oz Fels-Naptha bar soap and melt it on a double boiler.
4. Put a saucepan with water on the stove and wait until the water starts to boil.
5. After the water comes to a boil, place the glass bowl with grated soap on top of the saucepan.
6. Pour some boiling water into the grated soap*. Continually mix the soap with the hot water until all of the lumps melt down.
7. Pour the hot liquid soap mixture into the 5 gallon bucket and mix thoroughly.
8. Lastly, add in about 50-60 drops of essential oils.
9. Allow the laundry detergent to cool down and mix once more. It should thicken even more at this point. Shake the bottle around before using in your laundry machine.

I use an old laundry detergent bottle to just refill with my homemade laundry detergent that way it is easy to pour into my washing machine. Sometimes I use a mason jar to store a small portion of the laundry detergent and refill whenever it runs out. Before pouring out the detergent into the washing machine, shake the bottle or mason jar well so that there are no lumps.

*The Fels-Naptha bar soap is a laundry bar and stain remover, so for some reason it doesn’t melt on its own when you place it on top of a double boiler. That’s why I just boil some water on the side and add it into the mixture to help it all melt down and dissolve all the lumps.

Essential Oil Suggestions for this Homemade Laundry Detergent

Some of my favorite essential oil mixes for my homemade laundry detergent are the citrus blend and lavender peppermint.

For the citrus blend, combine 20 drops of lemon essential oil, 20 drops of lemongrass essential oil, and 20 drops of mandarin essential oil.

The lavender peppermint mix is just 30 drops each of lavender essential oil and peppermint essential oil.

Side note- make sure that your essential oils come from a source that creates pure 100% essential oils. There are many different brands to choose from, but whatever your go-to company is must be a quality one in order to gain all of the benefits of the essential oils.

If you want a stronger smell of the essential oils in your laundry, another idea is to add a few drops onto the wool balls whenever you are loading your clean clothes into the dryer. Essential oils typically have a more subtle smell, especially if you are comparing to other laundry detergents from the store. I personally prefer a less scented detergent, but if you want a more stronger scent, feel free to add even more drops of essential oils when you are mixing in the homemade laundry detergent.

Substitutions for bleach

Ever since I started to create a more natural home for my family, I ditched bleach, since it’s fumes has carcinogens that can cause cancer. I definitely didn’t want to inhale bleach while cleaning or wear it on my skin from laundry. Well, that poses a question: How do you whiten laundry without bleach? There are better-for-you options that give your white clothes that sparkle once again.

1- Stripping laundry: Using this homemade laundry detergent recipe, I just dump a cup of this with extra washing soda and borax in hot water in the bath tub. Next, add any of the clothes that need to be whitened and leave them in the tub for 2-4 hours. You’ll be surprised at how murky the water gets! This method does a wonderful job at getting rid of any soap gunk and water mineral residue from the materials.

2- Hang-drying outside: The sunshine’s natural UV rays also whitens clothing very well. After a normal wash in the machine, hang up your clothing outside to dry. Let the sun rays break down your stains for you and freshen up your whites without any harmful side effects that bleach has.

3- Molly’s Suds oxygen whitener: this oxygen whitener is a great alternative for bleach whenever you need those stubborn stains out.

Conclusion

Thank you so much for stopping by our blog! I really hope you give this homemade laundry detergent a try:) Let me know down in the comments what you think of this recipe and if you have any other suggestions for essential oil combinations to add into the detergent for a delicious scent!