DIY No Grate Liquid Laundry Detergent
I have been using homemade powdered laundry detergent for a while using Borax, Washing Soda & Ivory bar soap, I’m sure that you’ve heard of this by now. I like the way it cleans my clothes. Except for the occasional soap clumps on small loads, I don’t have any complaints.
I came across this recipe for detergent by accident and instantly knew that I had to try it. I never made my powdered detergent into liquid because it required you to cook it on the stove and I did not want to cook soap in one of my pots. But with this method there is no cooking involved!
Ingredients:
- 3 Tablespoons Borax
- 3 Tablespoons Washing Soda
- 2 Tablespoons Dawn Dish soap
Directions:
- Pour 4 cups of boiling water into a gallon jug.
- Add ingredients and swirl gently until the powdered are dissolved in the water. Do not put the cap on and shake, it will trap the stream and the bottle will expand from the heat (yeah, I did it). If the powders don’t full dissolve, that’s okay, just get a majority it dissolved.
- Set side and let cool. Once cool, fill the jug with cold water leaving about 1-2 inches empty at the top. Bubbles may overflow out of the bottle, that’s normal.
Measurements:
- 1/4 c small load
- 1/2 cup medium load
- 1 cup large load
Note: It seems watery, but don’t be fooled….it works! Even though the measurements seem large, you use such a small amount of the ingredients so they last a long time. I bought the small 14 oz bottle of Dawn and a month later, I still haven’t had to buy more.
I’ve used this detergent for about a month and I will not going back to the powdered detergent. It cleans my clothes well, including my husband’s work clothes. With the powdered detergent we would sometime have to wash his clothes twice but I thought it was just because they were really dirty.
Lastly, Dawn’s website specifically states not to mix bleach with this soap. If you need bleach try making a batch of this detergent with the Dawn that has a bleach alternative in it.
Wow, thanks… you mention your hubby’s work clothes. Do you ever pre-treat them? and if you do, do you use this same solution? just let them sit a while first? My DH is a trucker, so he gets pretty dirty and uses his jeans as a napkin frequently.
I use to grate my laundry soap until it got to hard on my hands and stopped so I’m glad I ran acros this no grate recipe. I’ve seen the recipe that you cook to but just never got around to trying it. Thanks for sharing your recipe.
I’m definitely gonna try this! Is there anything we can add to this detergent to make it smell great and fragrant like store-bought detergent?Thanks!
I have added a few drops of essential oil the fabric softener when I wash like lavender, or even lemon. But you can also make this fabric softener that uses hair conditioner & you can choose a nice scent for it: http://bit.ly/1a9EJe1. Hope that helps! -Monika
You can add essential oil-but do it on the final rinse so that the scent stays….Lavender, Lemon, and other Citrus are naturally antibacterial, antimicrobial, antifungal etc. I also use doTerra On-Guard essential oil because it even kill flu & MRSA viruses!
Do not use liquid bleach? Can I use Purex or Clorox II? I have been wanting to try homemade laundry detergent but I’m such a chicken – so picky about clean clothes!
I’m not sure. I know that you are not supposed to mix any dish soap with bleach because it causes a toxic gas, so to be safe I would use the Dawn with bleach alternative. -Monika
May be a dumb question, but does it matter if it’s concentrated or regular Dawn?
I’ve never tried the concentrated Dawn, but now I think I just might try it! -Monika
Can this detergent be used in HE washers?
I don’t have an HE washer, so I can’t say for sure. But I have read about other bloggers using Dawn in their HE washer and not having issues. -Monika
Hi,
Just a quick questions: 1. How does this work with perspiration odors and stains on clothing? Does it get all the odors and stains out? I like to use liquid detergent because I wash my clothes in cold water. Have you used this in cold water and if so, does it still do the job or ridding clothes of soil, grease, and perspiration odors and stains? Thanks. :)
I often wash with cold water and this works great! That was one of the problems that I had with the grated soap version, the soap flakes didn’t always dissolve in cold water. -Monika
Monika…so happy to have stumbled across your recipe on Pinterest. I’ve made this twice now and am shocked at how well it works. Cheap AND easy!
I use slightly different recipe for this. I mix in a gallon jug 2/3 c borax, 2/3 c wash soda and 2/3 c total of dish soap. I haven’t done the math with yours so please forgive me if it ends up being the same :). Just FYI, I use a combo of 1/3 c original Dawn and 1/3 c of a different detergent. I like a great fragrance, lately I’ve used Meyers lavender dish soap as my different detergent. This combo cleans my clothes great, I love this recipe as I prefer liquid detergents to powder. I haven’t made this with any of the scented Dawn items yet but I can’t imagine that it would be anything less than great.