Easy Peasy DIY Cloth Diaper Safe Laundry Detergent

Hi friends!

I've been on a mission over the past year or so to get as many harsh cleaning chemicals out of our home as possible. One of the easiest ways to do that is to make homemade laundry detergent! I was using the most common dry recipe out there with Fels Naptha, but I found out when I was pregnant with Owen that Fels Naptha can build up in cloth diapers and impact their absorbency. No good! Then I found out that Castile Soap doesn't build up, and life was good again!

Here it is, my favorite recipe.

• 1 box Borax
• 2 large boxes Baking Soda
• 1 box Washing Soda
• 2 bars Castile Soap (I used lavender, but you can use whatever you like)
• 15-20 drops Tea Tree Oil (optional)

The trickiest part of this whole process is grating the soap. I HIGHLY recommend using a food processor. Borrow one if you don't have one.

I start by slicing the bars of soap into smaller slices.

Then I use my grating blade to grate up the soap, leaving me with this.

That would be fine if you were making liquid soap, but this stays powder, so I like it in even smaller pieces. I dump this into a bowl and put my regular blade into the food processor. A few pulses and you end up with this. Much better!

Now it's simple. Everything gets dumped into a bin! Seriouly. No measuring, just pouring. I used a 16 quart bin, and it fills about halfway up. Stir all of the ingredients together, then add your essential oil and stir again.

I use 2T per load for our small, stackable washer. This amount worked well in our standard washer,too. We use about 1/4 of that for cloth diapers. Feel free to use more or less as you need it. Also, if for some reason you feel like you need more soap, add another bar of castile. I haven't noticed a problem, but I also try my best to pre-treat stains as often as I can. There are so many things that can make a difference in how a detergent works, so feel free to tweak this recipe as you need!

Oh, and my favorite part? This amount of detergent will last us for almost a year! Yep, you heard me right, almost a YEAR! It cost me about $30 to make. Sounds good to me!

Do you make your own cleaning supplies?
Why did you decide to make the switch?

Be blessed!
Heather