Homemade Laundry Detergent

I decided to take a quick break from sharing edible recipes with you and wanted to share this recipe for homemade laundry detergent instead.

I realize I am quite a few years beyond the popularity craze of making your own detergent at home, and I am more than okay with that. This was something I'd wanted to do for a really long time but I was hesitant of the recipes out there. Some didn't seem to include enough ingredients and other seemed to have too many. I just wanted a simple, cost-effective recipe for homemade laundry detergent that I could use in our washer.

Many months ago I finally decided to purchase all of the necessary ingredients. Of course, it was right after a Costco trip where we had purchased one of their ginormous containers of laundry detergent. Since we don't have a lot of space in the laundry room, I decided to wait until that container was almost out before making my own.

Which ended up being just a few weeks ago. On an ugly, cold day, I gathered my supplies, printed out the recipe and set out to make laundry detergent.

20 minutes later, I realized grating soap by hand is really tedious and that this may not have been the smartest ingredient list for one who is very sensitive to smells.  By the time I was done, I only suffered one small knick to the knuckle but I was in desperate need of a Zyrtec. Just something to keep in mind if you also suffer from smell sensitivity or have allergies. For my next batch, I plan to wear just a cheap paper mask to see if that helps me.

Before You Get Started:

• You'll need a large container to store this in. A rubber tote, a large bucket with a lid, or my choice: a plastic container previously housing 35 lbs. of cat litter. (Cleaned, obviously.)
• A large hand grater or a food processor. Putting soap in my food processor weirds me out, so I purchased the largest hand grater Walmart carried. It was a whopping $2.
• What to store the made laundry detergent in, a funnel, and possibly a scoop. (A coffee scoop works great!)