A while back, I posted an article on how to line-dry your laundry. As part of the group of doing your own laundry articles, here’s the one on making your own laundry detergents, fabric softeners, dryer balls, and stain removers, with links to books that will give you even more information than a mere article can.

You can make your own laundry supplies for far less than they cost at the store and with safer ingredients. I have a High Efficiency (HE) washing machine, and these homemade products work excellently in it. They are low sudsing and rinse out quickly and well, which is very good since a HE washing machine uses less water.

If you have contact dermatitis with chemicals, making your own detergent means you can wear your clothes without getting rashes and itchy spots. Those who have soy allergies are at a distinct disadvantage because manufacturers are not required to list the ingredients in non-food items, so you may never know that the laundry product you’re using has switched to soy ingredients as a cost savings for the company – and a pain for you! Making your own laundry products guarantees that what you use will be free of whatever it is you’re allergic to.

For the bar soaps required in the recipes, you could try Fels-Naptha, Ivory soap, Sunlight bar soap, Kirk’s Hardwater Castile, Octagon, and Zote. Don’t use heavily perfumed soaps or cosmetic soaps – they contain fats and oils that will stain your clothes.

Washing Soda and Borax can normally be found in the laundry and cleaning aisles. If not, you can buy them from Amazon, Soaps Gone Buy, or other places on the web.

Some people with really hard water or well water may have to adjust the recipes if the clothes look dingy.

Also if you can get your hands on a few empty liquid laundry detergent bottles they work great for storing the detergent. Just make a big batch and pour in bottles, cap then use as needed–shake before use.

Homemade Laundry Soap

1/3 bar Fels Naptha or other type of laundry bar soap as listed above
6 cups water
½ cup washing soda (NOT baking soda)
½ cup borax powder
4 cups hot water
1 gallon + 6 cups cold water

You will also need a small bucket, about 2 – 3 gallons in size

Grate the soap and put it in a sauce pan with 6 cups water and heat it until the soap melts. Add the washing soda and the borax and stir until it is all dissolved. Remove from heat. Pour 4 cups hot water into a large 3 gallon 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. It will not be a firm gel, but more like a watery gel, kind of soupy. You use ½ cup per load. It is a low sudsy soap so don’t look for lots of suds. You can add 1 ounce of essential oil (total, so if you use more than one fragrance, all of them together can’t exceed 1 ounce unless you remove water to equal the amount of essential oil you use), but select oils that will not stain your clothes. Add once the soap has cooled to room temperature. Stir well and cover.

Essential oil ideas: lavender, rosemary, tea tree oil, lemon verbena, orange, lemon,

Powdered Detergent

1 cup Vinegar (white)
1 cup Baking Soda
1 cup Washing Soda
1/4 cup liquid castile soap

Mix well and store in sealed container.

I find it easiest to pour the liquid soap into the bowl first, stirred in the washing soda, then baking soda, then added the vinegar in small batches at a time (the recipe foams up at first). The mixture is a thick paste at first that will break down into a heavy powdered detergent, just keep stirring. There may be some hard lumps, try to break them down when stirring (it really helps to make sure the baking soda isn’t clumpy when first adding, I use an old flour sifter). Use 1/2 cup per full load. You can substitute essential oil for some of the vinegar.

Powder detergent for a heavily soiled load

12 cups Borax
8 cups Baking Soda
8 cups Washing Soda
8 cups Bar soap (grated)

* Mix all ingredients well and store in a sealed tub.
* Use 1/8 cup of powder per full load.

Laundry Stain Removers

Soapy Pre-treater

Save pieces and leftover slivers of bar soaps and collect in a jar. Those little hotel soaps are ideal for this too (cut them down to small pieces).

When jar is filled half way with soap chunks, add boiling water. Mix soap bits and water until soap is melted.

Once cooled this will make a soap jelly. Use to pretreat laundry.

Spray-on Pre-treater

1 cup hot water
1/2 cup baking soda
1/2 cup hydrogen peroxide

Directions:

Mix ingredients then store in spray bottles. Spot treat stains then soak overnight.

Water Flushing Stain Removal

Many fresh stains come out quickly when flushed or soaked in hot water, but some will be set permanently. When in doubt, soak in cold water. Stains that are Blood, Milk, or Eggs should never be exposed to heat, always work with cool water for these.

Stain Removal Method: Greasy Stains

Place the garment stained side down on a clean white towel.

Sponge the back of the stain thoroughly with treatment, working from the center of the stain out.

Air dry. If stain still appears, repeat.

All-Purpose Bleach Soak
(for items that are bleachable)

Soak garment in a solution of 1/2 cup bleach per gallon of hot sudsy water (except for blood, egg or milk stains–use cool water instead). After soaking launder as usual.

Fabric Softeners Tips

Using 1/4 cup vinegar in your laundry’s rinse cycle keeps clothes soft. You can set aside a vinegar jug just for laundry and add about 2 dozen drops of your favorite essential oil to the vinegar if you’d like (or as much Essential Oil as you feel necessary).

In a pail mix 1 gallon of water and 1 cup concentrated liquid fabric softener. Dip a sponge or washcloth in the liquid, squeeze out excess and toss in the dryer with your laundry. Seal pail when not in use.

Pour liquid fabric softener and hot water in a spray bottle (50/50 mix) and lightly mist wet laundry before starting the dryer. Two or three good shots should do it. You could also just spritz a clean washcloth and toss that in the dryer.

Cut dryer sheets in thirds or halves, use one strip per dryer load.

Mix equal parts hair conditioner and water and store in spray bottle. Mist a washcloth or sponge and toss in dryer with wet load.

Use about 1/4 to 1/2 of the liquid fabric softener that they recommend on the bottle.

1/8 cup baking soda added to laundry and 1/4 cup vinegar in the rinse cycle.

Use a Downy ball if you have one–just use vinegar instead of Downy in it.

Soak a washcloth in full strength liquid fabric softener. Wring out excess, then lay out to dry first before using–helps prevent staining laundry the first time. To use: toss the dried washcloth in the dryer and use again and again until it no longer works. Resoak when needed (you should be able to do a few dozen dryer loads per fabric softener soak).

A Simple Fabric Softener

1 part Vinegar
1 part Baking Soda
2 parts Hot Water

Place a pail large enough to hold double the amount of ingredients in the kitchen sink or bathtub. Mix the baking soda and water in the pail, stir till the powder is dissolved. Then add the vinegar.

Remember that baking soda and vinegar reacts with fizzing, so use a big pail to account for this. Once it’s stopped fizzing, pour into clean bottles, cap, then use 1/4 cup per rinse cycle. The baking soda won’t dissolve completely, shake before using.

Another Fabric Softener

1 cup baking soda
1 cup water
6 cups distilled white vinegar
6 cups water
10 – 15 drops of essential oil for fragrance (optional)
a very large bucket

You will need to mix your ingredients in a large container, that will hold at least one gallon of fluid. You can do this in a large bucket or pot, and once the fabric softener is mixed, you can transfer it to the container you want to store it.

Start by adding 1 cup of baking soda to your large bucket or container. Then add 1 cup of water to the baking soda. You do not have to stir to dissolve the baking soda, as the next step will do that for you.

Now, slowly pour in 6 cups of distilled white vinegar. This will cause a chemical reaction with the baking soda, and the mixture will start to fizz (this is why you need to mix it in a large container.) Let the mixture fizz for a few minutes to help dissolve the baking soda.

Now add 6 more cups of water to the mixture. This will stop the fizzing process. Stir to properly mix all ingredients together.

If you want to add essential oil, you will now add your choice of oil. 10-15 drops of pure essential oil is generally sufficient enough to give the fabric softener a pleasant scent.

Pour your fabric softener into your choice of container. If you have left over fabric softener or laundry soap bottles, those will work excellent for storage of your new fabric softener. Just make sure they are properly cleansed before you add your new mix.

When you are ready to do laundry, add 1 cup of your fabric softener to the final rinse of your laundry, just as you would a store bought fabric softener.

Reusable Dryer Sheets

Flannel pieces
4 Tablespoons liquid softener (use your home made fabric softener)
10 Tablespoons water

Cut fabric sheets from old flannel pajamas or leftover flannel fabric from sewing and cut into 3″ x 5″ strips (approximately). Hem the edges so they don’t fray.

Stack flannel strips in a cleaned margarine tub (large size) or plastic container (cleaned baby wipes container works well too). Mix the liquid softener and water together, then pour evenly over top of stacked flannel strips.

Seal the container and shake well.

You can use several dozen strips with this mixture. Leave it sealed for 2 or 3 days, then use one flannel strip per load – squeeze out any excess if necessary (it should be just barely damp). Keep the container sealed at all times so it doesn’t dry out. Wash the strips as needed with a load of towels, then use again to make another batch when needed.

Dryer Fragrances

5″ x 5″ cotton muslin or cheesecloth squares (2)
Thread
Lavender or other strongly fragrant dried herd (rose geraniums, mint, lemon verbena, orange or lemon zest…)

Directions:

Sew large “tea bags” out of the muslin or cheesecloth squares, leaving an opening at the top to fill with lavender. Sew the top shut. No need to sew fancy, just place the squares together and sew a single seam along the top about 1/4 inch from the edge.

Roughly squeeze and pinch the bags before tossing in the dryer with wet laundry. When laundry is done the scent is light, not overwhelming at all. If you’re used to the overwhelming smell of commercial fabric softeners, you may not notice the scent. To make it stronger, make “quilts” of fragrant herbs to tuck into your folded laundry or to line the drawers and cabinets where you store your fabric clothes (or make padded coat hangars filled with fragrant herbs). If you use the same combination of herbs for the quilts and coat hangars and drawer liners as you do for hte dryer bags, the scent will become stronger over time.

These dryer bags are reusable! When the lavender is no longer doing its job, take a seam ripper and open about 2 inches on one end, empty the bag, refill and sew shut. For one last kick at the can, crush the used lavender and toss it around your carpet. Let sit for about an hour then vacuum.

Tip: Make more than one dryer bag so that the same bag isn’t in one load after another. Alternate them so each bag has a chance to cool down before being used again. If you do multiple loads on one huge laundry day, make at least one bag for each load you will wash in a single day. That way, they have time to cool and rejuvenate between uses and will last longer.

Wool Dryer Balls

Wool dryer balls act like the old tennis ball method of softening clothes by pounding them in the dryer. You can also use them to fluff dry feather beds, comforters, coats, and pillows.

You’ll need:

scraps of 100% wool yarn – felting yarn is the best.
Old pantyhose – it’s OK if they have runs
Cotton string
Sachets of dried fragrant herbs

Tips – don’t use machine washable wool – it won’t felt, and you need it to felt. Make each ball a single color or shades of the same color if you can – then use them in laundry of the same color to prevent color bleeding while the dryer balls are new. Don’t use the felting wool for tying off the balls inside the pantyhose because that’s a waste of good felting yarn. If you use cotton string, you can untie the balls from the pantyhose and reuse the hose. The sachets of herbs will lose their fragrance over time, but it helps create a good core for the balls and smells nice at first.

To Make: Tightly wind the felting yarn around the sachet. Wind them about 5″ across – they’ll shrink. Tie the balls into the pantyhose, separated. Wash and dry them at least twice with a load of towels. The felting yarns may bleed if they aren’t colorfast and you don’t want splotchy clothes.

If you can, untie the balls from the pantyhose. Tightly wind more yarn around the felted balls until they are about 8″ -10″ across – again, they will shrink as you felt them. Tie them back into the pantyhose and again wash them once or twice in a load of towels.

Once this is done, they are ready to use. Start with 2 or three balls in the dryer and work your way up to the number that adequately softens your laundry. Jeans and towels will need more balls than blouses, for example.

If the balls pill, you can shave them or leave as is. Every once in a while, wash them with a load of towels and dry them to help keep them fresh. If you use them with dryer sachets, you’ll get soft, sweet clothes.

Resources

Natural Soap Book – Susan Cavitch

The Soap Book – Sandy Maine

Smart Soapmaking – Anne Watson

How to Make Hundreds of Everyday Items Naturally – Readers Digest

Clothesline – Andrea VanSteenhouse

Talking Dirty Laundry with the Queen of Clean – Linda Cobb