I first began dabbling in making homemade laundry soap to save money. We were on a tight budget—anything I could do to save a few pennies here or there helped give us a little more wiggle room. And making my own homemade laundry soap was definitely an easy way I could save money. The lemon & lavender laundry soap also smells absolutely divine!
But the more I began to learn about what was actually in most laundry soap, the more I realized we needed to make changes. Fighting Lyme disease, I knew my body didn’t need to also contend with all those toxins rubbing on my body through the day. And I certainly didn’t want them on my sweet boys either.
So it turns out, laundry soap was just the beginning…
Cleaning The Toxins Out of Our Laundry Room
Soon I ditched my store-bought fabric softener…and fabric sheets {sob}.
That was hard. How would I keep laundry soft? And smelling good?
No problem.
After a little research I started using white vinegar in the fabric softener cup in my washing machine. And I started using wool dryer balls with a couple drops of essential oils on them in the dryer. The result: soft, yummy smelling clothes…without the chemicals.
(You can learn more about the essential oil brand I use and the story behind why it’s my favorite here.)
Next the stain remover/color booster had to go {groan}.
I have 5 boys. I feared their clothes would always look dingy.
Enter: oxygen cleaner. {And all the mama’s of boys rejoiced!} Now, all oxygen cleaners are not created equally. Some of them are filled with nasties. However, this is my favorite brand that I can feel good using on our clothes.
DIY Homemade Lemon Lavender Laundry Soap Recipe
I dabbled around with a number of different combos for laundry soap. And this is the one I’ve landed on that keeps our clothes clean, smells good, is cheap, and easy to make. Note the word easy—I don’t have time to spend half the day on DIY projects. I have 5 boys.
Ingredients
- 1 bar of Dr. Bronner’s lavender bar soap
- 1 cup washing powder (find this in the laundry aisle of the grocery store)
- 1 cup baking soda
- 1/2 cup citric acid
- 20 drops lavender essential oil
- 20 drops lemon essential oil
- Airtight container (mason jar works great!)
Directions
- Using a cheese grater, grate one bar of soap into a large bowl.
- Add washing powder, baking soda and citric acid to bowl. Mix everything together thoroughly.
- Add essential oils and mix well.
- Add mixture to an airtight container. Use 1/4 cup per load.
Laundry Soap: PRO TIP
Grab a cheap food processor at the thrift store. Making this in a food processor takes all the fuss out of it. Because let’s face it, grating soap is a bit of a drag.
Just throw your bar of soap in the food processor and run until it’s finely chopped. Then throw the rest of the ingredients in to mix around.
Keep this cheapo food processor set aside to use just for your laundry soap and you don’t have to worry about thoroughly cleaning it every time (because nobody wants soap mixed in with their food. Just wipe it out with a paper towel each time you finish making your laundry soap. Easy peasy!
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