
I’ve been working on switching out anything in my house with harsh chemicals in it for chemical-free options, but it’s a process. I’d been mulling over the idea of making my own laundry detergent, especially after learning that “fragrance free” detergent doesn’t really mean free of synthetic fragrance. A friend of mine had also mentioned that she’d been using Tea Tree essential oil in her laundry and it really made the whole load smell clean and fresh. So, when I got to the end of my store-bought laundry detergent I decided it was a good opportunity to give a homemade detergent a try. I went searching out on Pinterest and found a recipe from Still Being Molly that looked promising, especially since she specifically included Young Living oils in her recipe.
Here’s her recipe:
INGREDIENTS:
- 1 1/2 cup of pure baking soda
- 1 1/2 cup of washing soda (plain – no additives)
- 1 cup Borax (optional – I used it, but you could omit if you wanted)
- 1/2 cup Epsom salt
- 2 tablespoons of salt
- 5 drops Purification Essential Oil blend (where to buy)
- 5 drops Lemon Essential Oil (where to buy)
- Glass, airtight container
Combine all the ingredients in a food processor and blend until fine. Pour into your airtight container. I use about 1-2 tablespoons for a load.
This recipe, with the Borax, makes approximately 74 loads.
I ordered the washing soda and Borax from Amazon and had the baking soda and Epsom salt on hand. I had a pretty glass Martha Stewart screw top jar I’ve had for years that seemed to be the perfect container to use too, so that was a win. Instead of the Purification and Lemon oils, I opted to use Tea Tree instead. I’ve been using this recipe for awhile now (long enough to make a second batch) and I’m pretty happy with it.