Homemade laundry detergent

Edit to add: I have since gone back to store bought detergent after many years of using homemade. See this popular post: Stripping: Laundry Style for more!

At the beginning of the year I decided I wanted to start making most of our household cleaning products.  Mostly to save money but also to simplify and to have less poisonous things in the house when we got a baby.  (See previously posted fabric softener, goo gone, and dryer sheets).  I've found good homemade substitutes for everything except toilet bowl cleaner.  And we do buy dish soap (Dawn) because that stuff just works so well and I use it in various other things too.  

I've been very excited about this homemade laundry detergent.  Like waaaay more excited than I should be.  I made in back in February even though we wouldn't need it for months (we finally started it in May).  When I initially wrote this post we didn't do a lot of laundry.  4 loads every other week plus Matt's scrubs about once a month.  Now we do that plus Luke's laundry every 10ish days (we keep it separate because we're using the baby detergents on it.  Plus it's just so easy and cute to put away) and diapers about every 48 hours.  

Because I started this pre-baby I spent about a month accumulating all the ingredients, all 5 at 5 different stores.  I could have consolidated shopping trips but most items I just picked up when I was already getting something else.   I've done some price comparing and this is how it worked out:

• 3 bars Fels Naptha
• 1 box Borax
• 1 box Washing Soda
• 2 cups of baking soda
• 2 containers of Dollar Tree Oxyclean

3 bars Fels Naptha soap
I've only found this at Walmart but also didn't know where to look at Target or Scotts.  Price for 3 bars: $3.11

1 box Borax
I purchased at Target for a total of $3.39, after bag credit and 5% off with Redcard.  Total at Walmart would have been $3.62

1 box Washing Soda
I purchased at Scotts for $3.73, price at Walmart would have been $3.47

2 cups baking soda
Used a full 1lb (a little over 2 cups) box from Aldi for $0.49, would have been $0.56 for 1/4 of a 4lb box at Walmart

2 containers of Dollar Tree Oxyclean 
I was on the fence about even using Oxyclean because I found different recipes but since it was cheap I decided to, but just a small amount.  Bought at a not-really dollar store for $1 each.  Total spent $2.14.

Total price for all my supplies: $12.86

The last time I bought store detergent it cost $13.71 for a Target bottle supposed to last 96 loads (about 9 months for us). 

pre-stiring

The Fels Naptha is grated and then everything is mixed together.  I thought the grating would be a pain but really the mixing was the worse part.  It was really hard to stir it all up.

I use 1-2 TB each load, depending on what it is and how big of a load it is. 

We've been using it almost 2 months and so far it works great and it seems like we've barely made a dent.  We use it on everything but Luke's clothes and blankets, but we will use it on those when the baby detergents we were gifted run out.  If this lasts 9 months I'll be pretty happy with the cost, considering how much more laundry we are doing now.  Update coming then....