Two Cents a Load, as Low as ONE (DIY Laundry Soap)

Yesterday I was trying to configure proportions in laundry detergent ingredients and ended up enlisting my husband's help on his lunch break.  We texted back and forth and the result was a laundry chemist walked through the door shortly before dinner.  He had spent some time reading the science behind detergent during his breaks.  Oh, what a man.  Then before we went to bed I changed my mind on the powder option and decided to go with liquid -- because the last time I used powder I had an issue with it clumping in cold water.  I stopped with an abrupt, "I think I need friends."  Please tell me there have been other women who are at home with their littles all day and have pondered such DIY projects down to the science.

Once I gave up the powder concept, the liquid formula was easy to figure out.  In a detergent I have to think of a few things -- 1) cleanliness; 2) natural; 3) gentle but effective, since I have a baby; 4) does not cause me to strip diapers; 5) does not tear down my PUL diapers nor bamboo.  With this, I opted to eliminate anything too high in pH and too low.  In fact, my detergent from Trader Joe's labels itself as pH balanced.  I know that may shock majority of the laundry detergent makers who understand that you need a high pH to degrease.  Since soda ash is high up there at an 11, I wanted to refrain from using it (bamboo does not like high pH anyway).  I know water is the biggest thing you need for cleaning.  I also know, thanks to my husband's research, that though you may not need soda ash, you need a surfactant.  Magnesium sulfate (Epsom) would be my choice in that -- it is also not too acidic, at an average pH of six.

When I looked at my Trader Joe's pH balanced detergent it reads, "Purified water, plant based surfactant, soy based fabric softener, cellulose optical brightener, lavender oil."  Honestly, I thought to sub a few things and stick with their sort of ingredients -- like Epsom for the surfactant, vinegar instead of fabric softener, salt for brightener, and lavender oil.  However, just by knowing those ingredients, it would keep the solution slightly acidic because of the vinegar.

I also use their dish detergent, which is quite similar in ingredients.  Dish soap is almost always used in liquid homemade detergent, if not a bar soap.  I wouldn't use a bar soap because of the chance of repel in the cloth diapers.  It was easy for me to just use their dish soap in my laundry soap.  So, so far I knew I would use the balanced dish soap and Epsom.  My last active ingredient would be baking soda.  Why?  Because it is a milder alternative of the soda ash.  It sits around 9 on the pH scale.

Using only a shy less than half gallon (multiply accordingly for more), my formula was:

3 TB dish soap
2 TB baking soda
3 TB Epsom salt
(Optional) essential oils

I stirred these in a pot with a few cups of sink hot water until dissolved, then poured into my old detergent bottle and filled the rest with cold water.  I am using the same measurements of others' post to use 1/2 cup per standard load.  For HE, my Trader Joe's detergent uses half (1/4 cup) to yield 26 HE loads, or 13 standard loads.  You could always work between these 2 numbers and go with a 1/3, as I've seen in other posts as well.

So let's talk cost and how I figured it was only 2 pennies a load.  Let me first say, I bought that smallest box of baking soda and smallest bag of Epsom salt.  If you go with the larger quantities, you will truly only spend a penny a load, as these things get cheaper the larger the package.

Dish soap -- $2.99 at 25 ounces (50 TB) That's $.059/less than $.06 an TB
Baking soda -- $.54 at 16 ounces (32 TB) That's $.016/scarcely over a penny a TB
Epsom salt -- $.88 at 16 ounces (32 TB) That's $.027/less than $.03 a TB

For once 13-26 (depending on HE or standard) load bottle (53 ounce) I need $.17 of dish soap, $.03 baking soda, and $.08 of Epsom salt.  Total, this is $.28 of ingredients needed for no less than 13 loads, and up to 26 loads.  Divide that into the 13 loads and it makes each load 2 cents, but divide that into 26 and you get...a penny a load.  I did also put some essential oils, rolling with 7 drops each of lavender and bergamot.  This is optional, as the dish soap already has lavender.  I added lavender to roll with the oil it already had, and added bergamot since it is such a good skin oil.  I imagine I'll switch it up each time, alternating between lemon, sweet orange, peppermint, lavender, tea tree, bergamot, etc.  Again, it's not needed, but at 1-2 pennies a load...why not?