Homemade Laundry Detergent Guide: Powder and Liquid Recipes That Keep Your Whites Bright

What would it feel like to never stand in the detergent aisle again?

The first time I made this powder, I lost a whole afternoon before I grated a single bar. I drove to three different grocery stores looking for washing soda. None of them had it. (One clerk had never heard of it, which tells you how long it’s been gone from the shelves.)

So here’s the short answer, minus the driving. Grate one bar of laundry soap and mix it with washing soda and baking soda. That’s it. You get a jar of powder that cleans for about 5 to 11 cents a load. Borax is optional.

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Why Making Your Own Laundry Detergent Is Worth It

Making your own detergent is one of the easiest first steps away from the store. It’s cheap and quick, and you know every single thing that goes in the jar.

You’re in good company, too. Kitchen-first homesteaders like Lisa Bass say to start small and swap one store-bought thing for a homemade one. Boots & Hooves Homestead put it this way: “When I began my natural living journey, cleaning supplies were the first thing that I began to replace.”

And there’s something about that jar on the shelf. You made it. Your kids helped stir it. It’s the kind of thing your grandmother would’ve had in her laundry room, and now it’s in yours.

Don’t worry about getting it perfect on the first try. As the Accidental Hippies blog puts it, “The Homesteader Police aren’t going to come and get you for ‘doing it wrong.'”

Powder, liquid, or tabs?

There are three ways to make it. Here’s how they compare, so you can pick the one that fits your laundry room.

Where to Buy the Hard-to-Find Parts

Here’s the one hiccup nobody warns you about. A lot of grocery stores don’t carry washing soda anymore. Some don’t stock Fels-Naptha either. You can lose a whole Saturday hunting for them, like I did.

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Save yourself the gas and the headache. This kit has everything for the classic powder in one box: 4 bars of Fels-Naptha with a box of borax and a box of washing soda.

Four bars means about four batches. Depending on your washer, that’s a few months of laundry from one order.

Making a batch for sensitive skin or baby clothes? Grate this unscented castile bar instead of Fels-Naptha:

What You Need to Make Homemade Laundry Detergent

You don’t need much, and most of it is already in your kitchen. The one thing to set aside is a grater that stays in the laundry room from now on.

The great borax debate

Ask ten homesteaders about borax and you’ll get ten strong opinions. One camp swears by it. It’s a mined mineral, and grandmothers used it in the wash for generations. The other camp leaves it out and says the recipe works fine without it.

Here’s the honest middle. Borax is a laundry booster, and it’s handled safely in laundry rooms every day. It isn’t safe to swallow, which is why Poison Control says to keep it away from kids and pets. The recipe below works either way. Use it, or swap in extra washing soda. Then tell us which camp you’re in at the end.

How to Make Homemade Laundry Detergent Powder

This is the one to start with. It takes about 20 minutes of work and an hour of drying time while you do something else. One batch makes about 4 cups, which is roughly 32 to 64 loads.

Step 1: Grate it fine. Use the small holes. Fine shreds melt into the wash. Big ones can leave little flecks on dark clothes.

Step 2: Let it dry for an hour. Spread the shreds on parchment. Fresh-grated soap holds moisture, and dry shreds are what keep your powder loose in the jar.

CHECKPOINT: Pinch a few shreds. They should feel dry and crumble a little. Waxy or damp? Give them another 30 minutes.

Step 3: Mix. Put everything in a big bowl and stir for 2 to 3 minutes. This is the perfect job for little helpers. Let them stir while you handle the borax and washing soda, since both can irritate eyes and skin, and Poison Control warns borax is harmful if a child swallows it.

Step 4: Jar it. Spoon it into your jar, label it “Laundry Soap” with the date, and store it up high and away from food.

Step 5: Do the glass test. Stir 1 tablespoon into a glass of cool water and wait two minutes. If it’s mostly dissolved with no chunks, you’re ready. If you see chunks, grate a little finer next time.

How much to use: 1 tablespoon for a front-loader or other HE washer. Up to 2 tablespoons for a regular top-loader. Sprinkle it right into the drum before the clothes.

Got a tough stain? Rub a damp Fels-Naptha bar right on the spot before it goes in. Or mix washing soda and a little water into a paste and rub it in. Wait 10 to 15 minutes. Collars and underarms love this step. So do work clothes.

READ MORE: How To Make Homemade Laundry Detergent

How to Make Homemade Laundry Detergent Liquid

If you wash mostly in cold water, liquid is your friend. It dissolves fast. It does separate in the bottle, so you’ll give it a shake each time.

Step 1: Stir the washing soda and baking soda into the hot water until no grains are left on the bottom.

Step 2: Let it cool a bit, then stir in the castile soap. Very hot water breaks castile down faster.

Step 3: Pour it into a bottle with a tight cap. Label it, and shake before each use. Separating is normal. It hasn’t gone bad.

How much to use: 2 tablespoons for an HE washer, up to 4 for a regular top-loader.

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When I started making liquid, I kept buying tiny bottles of castile soap at the pharmacy and running back every other week. The big jug fixed that. This one is citrus-scented. For sensitive skin, look for the unscented version.

Want to watch a batch come together? Hopewell Heights makes a big family-size batch in the video below. Their measurements are a little different, so follow the recipe above.

READ MORE: How to Make Your Own DIY Liquid Laundry Soap

The Secret to Bright Whites: Washing Soda and a Vinegar Rinse

Here’s the part most recipes skip, and it’s why some people quit after a few months. If your water is hard, your soap needs a little help, and two things in your pantry do the job.

What hard water does to soap

Hard water carries calcium and magnesium. Soap loves to grab onto those minerals, and when it does, it turns into soap scum that clings to fabric. Penn State has a simple explainer on how this works. University of Nebraska-Lincoln Extension notes that those soap curds are what make fabric stiff, and that poor cleaning in hard water grays whites over time.

That’s why washing soda matters so much. It softens the water before the soap ever meets those minerals. If your water’s hard, use the extra 1/2 cup in every batch.

Why vinegar works

Plain white vinegar is about 5% acetic acid, and it does two jobs in the rinse.

First, it dissolves the mineral film. Acid breaks down the calcium and magnesium deposits that hard water leaves behind, the same way vinegar clears the white crust off a coffee maker. Those minerals are what help soap cling to fabric in the first place. Colgate-Palmolive’s own patent on fabric rinses says hardness minerals increase how much soap sticks to fabric, and that an acid rinse helps lift it out.

Second, it brings the pH back down. Washing soda sits around pH 11, which is great for cleaning but leaves the fabric slightly alkaline. A mild acid in the rinse brings it back toward neutral. That’s part of why vinegar-rinsed towels come out soft and fluffy instead of crunchy.

And no, your clothes won’t smell like a salad. The smell rinses out and dries away.

How to use it: Pour about 1/2 cup of plain white vinegar into the fabric softener cup. It gets added during the rinse, diluted in a full tub of water. If your washer is brand new and still under warranty, take a quick look at the manual, since a few brands would rather you used their own rinse products.

Whites already looking dull? Give them a hot soak for a few hours in the tub with 1/4 cup washing soda and 1/4 cup borax. People online call this “stripping.” Then wash as usual with a vinegar rinse. Stick to sturdy whites, since a hot soak can fade colors.

READ MORE: 7 Best Stain Removers for Clothes That You Can Find in Your Kitchen

What Is an HE Washer?

HE stands for high-efficiency. It’s any front-loader, or a top-loader without a tall post in the middle. These washers use a lot less water than older machines, so they like low-suds soap in small amounts.

Good news: your homemade powder is already low-suds. Grate it fine and pass the glass test. Then use just 1 tablespoon. That’s all it takes.

Make It Your Own

The base recipe works for most families. Once you’ve made a batch or two, here’s how to fit it to yours.

• Sensitive skin: Use the unscented castile bar. Skip the borax and any scent.
• Baby clothes: Same as sensitive skin, plus an extra rinse.
• Hard water: Add the extra 1/2 cup washing soda, and never skip the vinegar rinse.
• Scent: Stir 20 to 30 drops of essential oil into a powder batch, or 15 to 20 into liquid. Lavender and eucalyptus are favorites. I used to buy tiny bottles one at a time at the grocery store, and it added up fast. A multi-pack is the cheaper way.

Quick Fixes for Common Hiccups

Most first batches have a small hiccup or two, and every one of them has an easy fix. Find what you’re seeing below.

Shortcuts That Backfire

A few tips online sound like time-savers but cause the exact problems people blame on the recipe. Skip these.

• Dawn or dish soap in the washer. It’s made to foam, and washers need low suds.
• Skipping the drying hour. That’s how you get a jar of rocks.
• Coarse shreds. They don’t melt, especially in cold water.
• More soap for dirtier clothes. Pre-treat the stain instead. Extra soap just leaves more film.
• Leaving borax where kids can reach it. It’s natural, but it isn’t safe to swallow.

When to Call for Help

Homemade soap rarely causes real trouble. Still, if the same washer error code keeps coming back after you’ve cut the dose, or the washer leaks or won’t drain, call a repair tech.

If a child swallows borax or washing soda, call Poison Control at 1-800-222-1222 right away.

Is Making Homemade Laundry Detergent Worth It in 2026?

Yes. A batch of powder works out to about 5 to 11 cents a load, and Tide’s original liquid runs about 20 cents a load in big bottles and 30 cents in small ones.

Here’s the math with October 2026 prices:

Kroger lists Tide Original at about $0.20 a load in the 100-ounce bottle and $0.30 in the 29-ounce bottle. A family running 8 to 10 loads a week keeps roughly $35 to $130 a year in their pocket.

The money’s nice. But the bigger win is pulling a towel out of the dryer, soft and bright, and knowing it came from a jar you made.

Buy Once

You only need a few things, and they last a long time.

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• Easiest start: The Fels-Naptha laundry soap kit. Everything for about four batches in one order, no store-hopping.
• For sensitive skin: Dr. Bronner’s Baby Unscented castile bars in place of Fels-Naptha.
• For cold-water washers: The 32-ounce castile jug for the liquid recipe.

Your First Jar

Pick a quiet afternoon this week. Grate the bar and let it dry while you fold a load. Then mix it up with whoever wants to help stir. Set a jug of white vinegar by the washer.

Then wait for that first towel to come out of the dryer.

Want another easy swap? Try these homemade cleaning products next, or hang your loads on a rack or clothesline.

FAQs

Borax or No Borax?

Which camp are you in? Cast your vote below.

Borax belongs in homemade laundry detergent. Agree?

Yes, it's been in the wash for generationsNo, I leave it outOnly when my water is hard

Vote

Drop your reasoning in the comments. The best answer gets featured in our next roundup.