Stop Buying Laundry Detergent — This $0 Recipe Lasts a Year!

106 thoughts on “Stop Buying Laundry Detergent — This $0 Recipe Lasts a Year!”

1. Collapsing one corrupt corporate industry at a time

   1. Not so sure. All is fiddled at onceby everyone. Also implemented by people in these comments. Wouldn’t work if people just refused at every level.

   2. @4nbop804user I boycotted my mobile phone in 2000.
      Banks in 2010, and the system in general in 2020.Does that count?🤔

   3. ngyhcfi4klookatmyplaylistsk4 Why not?🤔 I been making my own for 40+ years..
      Many years ago I was known for “If he can’t find it, he makes it!”
      Honestly, it was in the early 80’s when I started building stuff on my own. I can make anything from just about any material. “Master craftsman”
      All industry did for me was import cheap labor, the people feel for it. (got what they paid for) put many craftsmen out of work. Then they shipped out the cheap labor because they don’t need them anymore. The cabal has the masses exactly where they want them.

   4. ngyhcfi4klookatmyplaylistsk4 He will not answer you because he can’t. He is a ‘tard’ and will die that way. As Kenny Rogers said, know when to walk away. Don’t look back and be at peace with yourself. You are not alone, it just feels like it most of the time.
      Friends.

2. As an retired ex-commercial laundry repairman (Pellerin Milnor, Dexter, Speedqueen) hospitals hotels prisons, some using massive Tunnel machines , I don’t recommend any dry powder soap in Front Loaders, there is not enough water to effectively dissolve the ingredients and can cause problems with the machine and your plumbing. All commercial laundry uses liquid soap usually teamed up with Ecolab or other liquid chemical companies to dispense liquid soap products at the right times, and there is no physical “agitator ” because unlike top loaders that just move the clothes back and forth in gallons of water, front loaders take the clothes out of the water and rotate them back around dragging thru the water over and over, that’s your agitation creating friction. Some residential machines have small rollers in the spines of the drum to facilitate the movement of clothes but they are not seen in commercial equipment. Also Fabric softener like Downey will ruin your clothes over time. Vinegar is an effective and cheap alternative that helps break down soap residue and mineral buildup and works best on cotton and towels. Also helps keep your machine clean.

   1. wont the clothes smell like vinegar? or is the vinegar 50/50 distilled water?

   2. @Rzn8B58nope. I’ve been using vinegar for years, no smell, just clean clothes without a coating of soap.

   3. He says nothing about using powdered detergents in the video at all. What are you talking about?

   4. @Rzn8B58No vinegar smell. My daughter went to French Pastry school her Chefs told them to use vinegar because it leaves no fragrance or residue on their chef coats that could interfere with their smell Sense.

   5. ​@elfiepapini4470ok, then I will give it a try. Just fill to the fabric softener fill line or how are you all doing it?

3. I’ve used this for over 14 years. I use ivory soap bars, washing soda and borax and it works great.

   1. Can clorox or another whitening agent be added to the solution or wash?

   2. ​@butlercreek4583clorax will discolor so that you just use it for white ❤

   3. ​@butlercreek4583Just add o half a cup of Peroxide,it’s the OXI in modern detergent!❤

   4. Dr Bronner’s has a liquid Castile soap can we use that instead of the bar?

   5. ​@butlercreek4583 better you soak anything that needs whitening in powdered Biz for a few days.. wash with soap and added borax

4. Just an fyi. Homedepot changed the formulation of the plastic in their buckets. Homedepot buckets are very brittle and start breaking in your hands in only a few months. I bought 30 for a project and all of them are breaking in my hands under very light use. Note, this was an indoor project so zero exposure to sunlight or harsh chemicals.

   1. We had same issue, they are just trying to make products cheaper each year – kind of like the bag of chips – mostly air.

   2. And I just recently brought some of the buckets and they didn’t do this to me as well as the Lowe’s buckets didn’t.

   3. ​@TheRealKimelia They said “in a few months”. How long have you actually owned the buckets?

   4. @AiSuperUser25 Chips are packaged by weight and air doesn’t weigh anything. Just saying.

   5. It also could be from the buckets sitting out in the sun at the store. I had a bucket that sat outside against a wall, mostly forgotten. The wall faces the east where the sun rises each morning. The bucket took the brunt of the sun for a few months. One day when I went out to use it, it disintegrated as soon as I picked it up.

5. Same applies to pretty much every product on the market: You’re not paying for the product, you’re paying for the brand name and the package it’s labeled on…

   1. we pay companies to advertise their products, because we are so ignorant.

   2. you’ve either never tried to use these miserable failure concoctions or you do not have children, but I assure you with 30y worth of “from scratch” living hacks/ recipes from everything from food to cleaning supplies… you can use many substitutes or direct chemical mixes for many things, but laundry soap is best left to the professionals…. they have perfected the recipes and clothes do not maintain color, feel, or weave/ durability using substitutes

   3. ​@inTruthbyGrace Isn’t that what starch is for?..

   4. We are also paying to transport water, which is HEAVY. We already have water inside our houses.
      It kills me to see everyone buying bottled water when you can spend a couple hundred dollars upfront and make your own RO water for YEARS.

   5. @inTruthbyGrace Ok “big soap” 🙂 You could be right or you could be wrong. I’m going to try it because Im bored and have too much time on my hands.

6. Washing Soda, Borax, Castile Soap. (Video says use1 bar castile but many say 2 bars makes it gel) grated to a pot. Add 4 cups water. Stir 10 minutes til fully dissolved. DO NOT LET IT BOIL. Get clean 5 gallon bucket, fill 1/2 way with very hot water. Pour melted soap in. Add 1 cup of Super Washing Soda, 1 cup Borax. Stir for 2 minutes or til fully dissolved. Fill rest of bucket with cold water and cover with lid. Overnight it turns into a gel. Use 1/2 cup per load.

   1. Thank you !!

   2. I screenshot that !!! Everything will be here Monday!! Thinking about purchasing a scent! 😊

   3. @margaretmortensen6695 You’re welcome. 🙂

   4. I like the cliff notes version too. Thank you.

   5. Can add essential oil drops for scents… lavender, vanilla, peppermint….

7. I’ve been cleaning houses over 30 years. I have learned dawn dish soap, vinegar and baking soda is all you need

   1. You don’t use citric acid?

   2. Dawn has a derivative of ammonia, that why they say don’t mix with bleach and it will fade the clothes amd eat up elastic

   3. add ammonia and mineral oil too! Pledge is just lemon scent and ammonia and lemon oil is just mineral oil and lemon scent

   4. ​@88tirtlesthe vinegar is acid and will eat the clothes as well as your washer seals

   5. Clean windows the best using only WATER, soap makes windows streak, unless your glass is covered in mud, Still use Water, and repeat!!

8. 1:45 I know some hotel workers who sometimes doesn’t change the sheets when it still looks clean, they just spray it with linen spray so that it smells clean. That’s why hotel beddings that are too fragrant will always be sus to me.

   1. It’s called poppin the sheets

   2. French laundering

   3. 🤢

   4. Do it dirty, keep it clean.
      Fragrant sheets, sight unseen.
      Bed bug eggs & fresh white tea.
      Waft into your olfactory.

   5. I always strip the bed before I check out when using hotels.
      That’s to help out the cleaners.
      But to also make sure they actually change the sheets.

9. Bruh people are gonna appreciate you so much for this wow

   1. Aww, thanks for the love, bruh! That’s awesome to hear, glad I could help you out!

   2. @S@Sidney_Explains_Moneycould you use a liquid Castile soap that’s scented instead of the bar and if so would it still be one cup amount

   3. It Does not work.

   4. @barneycrumble What exactly didn’t work? Genuine question 🙂
      Did it not gel properly, or did you actually wash clothes with it and find they still came out dirty? Because honestly, this has been by far the best detergent I’ve personally ever used.

   5. ​@barneycrumble specifics?

10. Darling I’ve been using this exact same recipe for over 15 yrs. I add some essential oils of my liking to give it that little wonderful smell. I like lemon but some might add lavender. I also saved my old Tide bottles and I use them to put my liquid soap in by the washing machine and just refill and keep using the same plastic bottle over and over again for 15 years plus. More environmentally correct. Saves me a ton of money. Win win.

    1. I love that you’ve been doing this for so long, and using essential oils is a wonderful touch. 😊

    2. How do you add the essential oils? After it’s made and into the bucket and then stir it or do you drop it a few drops in the washer

    3. Just replace plastic, OTHERWISE, 💪🏼

    4. I was just thinking I’ll be keeping my last couple jugs I have here.

    5. @Michael-bv1nqI would add to water. The oils would pull plastic into the soap. Thats why oils are in glass bottles

11. Strange recession indicator but I’m here for it.

    1. its still cheaper than buying detergent, stop having a loser defeatist mindset if thats at all possible for you

    2. @firstlast542If you don’t think he has a point than it is you who has the loser defeatist mindset that we are better off being subservient to corporations and their greedy shareholders.

    3. Money is one reason, the other would be avoiding toxic chemicals that add up over 80 years of use or trigger health issues in some, like allergies.

    4. @eaglefreedom5361 Are you just here to be argumentative.? Don’t we already have enough of people like that?

    5. @den@dennystarr8993 to offer a perspective about a perspective. If that harms you in any way, maybe the internet isn’t the place for you.

12. Wow, thanks Mister!

    1. Wow! Thank you so much for this! just saw your super thanks now in my comments! 💙💙💙

    2. ​@Sidney_Explains_Money hi. I made this recipe yesterday and let it sit overnight. But it did not thicken. It actually made this weird white cloud in the middle that I stirred back in again. But it has the same viscosity as water. How do I get it to thicken?

       Edit: I whisked that cloud in for a couple minutes and let it sit for the rest of the day and it did in fact cloud up fully and thicken. We have been using it for a few days and it worked. It needs to be stirred initially, then in the morning, and let sit for at least 24 hours in total. The recipe does work.

       update: it continued to separate to the point wear my whole family rebelled and i threw it out. i bought a container of arm & hammer clean and free. i wish there was a concentrated version that i can add water to so we were not buying so much water content in plastic.

    3. @theAwakenedOne007 mine did the same, here for an answer.

    4. ​@turboSHIZZLE read my edit. It does in fact work.

    5. ​@theAwakenedOne007ah I didn’t read it all the way down. Thank you.

13. I did it! Thanks to this video, it works amazing, clothes are more clean and now I have a whole bucket for the rest of the year

    1. Amazing, nothing beats that feeling of having a huge supply ready to go! 👌 plus it washes soooooo much better…..

    2. This recipe just stayed water, it does not thicken.

    3. @EH-LOWKpeople are saying you need two bars of the soap.

    4. I did it and it didn’t work for me?????

    5. @EH-LOWK Then, you did something wrong. I only use 60grams of grated soap, in 4 cups of water, brought to a near boil. Works great.
       Bet you didn’t use hot water, as stated. I made that mistake early on; & it doesn’t gel up.

14. Expect Arm & Hammer soda, Borax and Castille soap prices to soar immediately.

    1. That happened when people started using baking soda for cleaning after a huge campaign by arm and hammer.

    2. Castile soap bar is 15$ each
       The soda is 25$ for 10 pounds
       Borax 10$
       Still cheaper and no chemicals

    3. I just bought 4 bars for $5.99. Where are you shopping??

    4. @SergiuM42here in Quebec Canada we only have government run shops so the Pharmacy

    5. @NicLarcher I’m sorry!

15. This “recipe” has been around for a LONG time. I first started using it about 10 years ago. The hardest part about using it is constantly reminding yourself, that clean means “not stinky”. It does not mean fake fragrance. Clean really should smell like nothing.

    1. could you add fragrance, maybe essential oils?

    2. Sure, i do that.

    3. Or the new fancy beads would still be much cheaper than buying their detergents

    4. The smell of Tide makes me nauseous. I don’t get why people like it. It doesn’t smell natural.

    5. @matthewbeaver5026right, I want to try this but still add beads for scent

16. Heads up for anyone trying this, there’s an important chemistry issue worth knowing. Castile soap is oil-based, which means in hard water it reacts with calcium and magnesium minerals to form an insoluble waxy residue (calcium stearate). This is why you may notice white deposits on dark clothes or buildup in your machine over time. It’s not the recipe failing exactly, it’s just fundamental soap chemistry.

    Synthetic detergents were actually invented to solve this exact problem. They use surfactants that don’t react with hard water minerals, so they clean consistently regardless of water hardness.

    The washing soda and borax in this recipe do help by softening the water first, but in moderately hard water they can’t neutralize enough minerals to fully prevent the soap from curdling, which may clog and damage newer front loading washing machines.

    1. So use warm/hot water? I have warm water setting on the washer anyway.

    2. @KarenBurnadette did you by chance misread hard water as cold water? if the water in your area is hard then there isn’t much you can do except filters

    3. lucky me in Europe ))

    4. Thanks for the heads up.

    5. What if you put an extra scoop of borax and A&H into the wash?

17. I have used this recipe for years and saved thousands! I use Zote soap, it is a larger bar and less expensive, it comes in white, no odor, or pink if you like the “clean” smell. It is usually on the shelf in Walmart right above the washing soda.
    Interesting side note: several years ago when this recipe became popular on You tube and many, like me, started making it, the detergent industry paid some unethical Youtubers to make phony videos about it damaging your washing machine and harming your septic system. After a while, a scientist in the surfactant industry chimed in proving they were lies, and in fact, like you mentioned, is better for your machine and septic system, also that it does not contain micro plastics that many store brands contain.
    Make it and rage against the machine!

    1. This is such a great comment because it points to something bigger than laundry detergent: once people realize they can make a simple, effective product themselves for pennies, suddenly a whole industry has a reason to make DIY sound risky or “too complicated.” I love when everyday frugal living turns into a tiny act of independence.

       And the microplastics/septic point is exactly why I think these conversations matter. It’s not just about saving money — it’s about knowing what we’re actually using in our homes and not blindly trusting the most expensive bottle on the shelf.

       And hey, I might be wrong, but I feel like you might be a Gen X over there too, just like me. By the way, when you ended your comment with Rage Against the Machine, I felt like I was brought right back to the 90s, and I loved it. 😉

    2. How much of the soap do you use? Do you buy one bar and break up the whole bar?

18. Thank you. I have lupus so I suffer from sensitive skin and I tend to get rashes because of it. Some laundry detergent, cause it and sometimes just using too much causes it. This helps so much. No itching no rashes just clean clothes and happy skin, it’s amazing.

19. 5:54 “free and clear still has surfactants, this recipe doesn’t need them”
    But at the beginning of the video you said one of the components to clean laundry is a surfactant in my order to break down water tension.

    1. @Some_One_One ^^

20. To anyone getting watery solution after one day, two things: temperature and hardness. I live in Hawaii where temps are average 80-85°F daily and tap water is very hard. My first batch was watery and took a week to congeal. Batch #2 I used distilled water and put my bucket in a temp controlled fridge at 60° and congealed overnight immediately. So if you’re doing this in the summer, have hard tap water, or live in Southern States, that is what I recommend: use distilled water and low temps

    1. Thanks. I’ll try that next time.

    2. @SpiritOfLiberty1776 great advice, thank you. We live in Staffordshire, England and have very hard water. Our solution is very watery, so we’ll leave it for a week to let it congeal.

    3. THANK YOU!! I could not figure out what happened. I am going to reheat the first batch to see if I can salvage it as I see the lipids separated in the hard water. I also live in the deep south on the Gulf Coast so I had many things working against me that I did not know when I attempted to make this a couple days ago. I think just the Distilled water will make the difference, however, I will make sure it can cool down properly as well.

    4. ​@bea1365how’d it turn out?

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