Powdered HE Laundry Detergent Recipe

Laundry detergent.  Now that I've been making my own for the past several months, I can hardly believe the price it fetches at the local stores.  Can you say "highway robbery"?

I had been using the liquid detergent I posted several months ago.  It works great.  It's inexpensive as all get out.  But... I'm lazy.  And having a big ole jug to mess around with, well, I starting thinking about a powdered version.  After all, wasn't I going to be putting the detergent in water anyway?  So, now you have another version to suit your preference.


This recipe is just too easy.  The only thing thing that is time consuming is grating up the bar of soap, which is a great activity for the little gems when they are bored.

Also, this is a very low-suds detergent.  Another plus.

Powdered HE Laundry Detergent

• 1 bar soap (Fels Naptha, Ivory, Dr. Bronner's, or whatever you have on hand)
• 1 C borax
• 1 C washing soda (not baking soda)

1. Using a box grater, grate the soap.  You'll want to use the side that gets the soap into really fine pieces.
2. Place all your ingredients in a large bowl (preferably a deep one).
3. With a wooden spoon, stir soaps for about 5 minutes.  You don't want any big chucks of soap as that will not dissolve in your washing machine.
4. TO USE:  1 T for normal loads; 2 T for extra-soiled loads.