Homemade Laundry Soap

You will need 3 basic ingredients all found in the laundry aisle of the grocery store. 1) Fels Naptha Soap (an old-fashioned type of soap), 2) Arm & Hammer Washing Soda (not baking soda), and 3) 20 Mule Team Borax.

Homemade Laudry Soap Recipe

1/3 bar Fels Naptha
½ cup washing soda
½ cup borax powder

~You will also need a small bucket, about 2 gallon size~

Grate the soap and put it in a sauce pan. Add 6 cups water and heat it until the soap melts.

Add the washing soda and the borax and stir until it is dissolved. Remove from heat. Pour 4 cups hot water into the bucket. Now add your soap mixture and stir. Now add 1 gallon plus 6 cups of water and stir. Let the soap sit for about 24 hours and it will gel. You use ½ cup per load.

~The finished soap will not be a solid gel. It will be more of a watery gel that has been accurately described as an "egg noodle soup" look.

I like to mix mine with a stick blender after it has sat the 24 hours. Others have stirred it with a whisk to create a more even concentrate.

I put mine soap in pitchers that I can pour from and store above my washing machine. The soap can be kept in the bucket if you wish however.


~The soap is a low sudsing soap. So if you don’t see suds, that is ok. Suds are not what does the cleaning, it is the ingredients in the soap.