Homemade natural, vegan Liquid Laundry Detergent

Recently my friend from my high school days came to visit and I was reminded that she's allergic to a specific type of laundry detergent which got me thinking about making liquid laundry detergent for energy efficient machines. I didn't want the detergent to contain any harsh chemicals so it would not irritate the skin and after doing some research I came across a few recipes that pretty much shared the same ingredients so I decided to build off of them and create my own unique, liquid laundry detergent!

 The basic ingredients are:

• 1 Bar of Soap - I used Bisous Provence Green Vert 100% Vegetable Triple Milled Soap - which made my recipe vegan  (you can use pretty much any soap you'd like such as Dr. Bronner’s,  Ivory, or other natural, unscented bar soaps - don't forget to check the laundry aisle for Fels Naptha which is a soap made specifically for laundry!)
• Arm and Hammer Brand Washing Soda (found in the laundry aisle)
• 20 Mule Team Borax (also found in the laundry aisle)
• A few drops of your favorite essential oil (optional)
• 1/2 cup of Arm and Hammer Baking Soda
• Water
• 5 Gallon bucket
• Air tight containers (for storing detergent)

Directions:

1. Start by grating your bar of soap with a cheese grater. 

2. Then put the grated soap into a saucepan with about 2 cups of hot water and heat up everything until all of the little pieces of soap have dissolved into a liquid.

3. With the soap still in the saucepan on the stove, add approximately 1/2 cup of Borax and 1/2 cup of Arm and Hammer washing soda and stir everything until dissolved.

4. Add in the 1/2 cup of Arm and Hammer Baking Soda to give it an extra cleaning boost and stir until dissolved.

5.  Fill a 5 gallon bucket with approximately 8 cups of hot water then remove the soapy mixture from the heat and transfer it into the bucket with the water.

6. Stir your soapy mixture in the bucket for approximately 5 minutes and add a few drops of your favorite essential oil. Just a hint: lavender oil helps release wrinkles in clothing and has a very relaxing scent

Pick whichever essential oil you'd like just make sure that no one in your house is allergic to it!

7. For extra stain-fighting and cleaning power I sometimes add a little bit of oxyclean to my mixture and stir it up really well. (Note- doing this would add certain ingredients that may not make your detergent vegan or natural so only add this in if you don't mind non-vegan detergent)

8. Once everything is all mixed up I usually let my mixture sit uncovered overnight and it is usually the correct consistency by the following day. Sometimes there will be a thicker layer on the top of the mixture but all you need to do it stir it up a bit before pouring it into the container you want to store it in. Occasionally I will add a cup or 2 more of hot water and stir it up to reach the right consistency.

9. The final step is to transferring your mixture into containers that have lids. I like to recycle my old store-bought laundry detergent containers for this.

I used my liquid laundry detergent religiously and it lasted over 3 months. All of my clothes came out smelling fresh, clean and I had no complaints from anyone in the house. Sometimes the detergent bottle needs to be mixed up before pouring it into the machine so I usually give mine a quick shake.

If you would rather have powdered soap for your laundry follow these instructions:

1. Grate 1/3 to 1/2 bar of soap.

2. Mix your grated  soap with borax and washing soda (add baking soda and oxyclean if desired)

3. Store in air-tight container.

Everyone I've talked to that made this detergent has had nothing but the best things to say about it and has sworn not to go back to store bought detergent ever again! What kind of experience have you had with store bought detergents and what did you do to remedy the situation?