Pros and Cons of Making and Using Your Own Laundry Soap

I have wanted to make my laundry soap for the past couple of years. Then I came across the recipe. It looked easy and affordable. I was super excited to try it out, so I bought all of the ingredients. What are the pros and cons of making and using your laundry soap?

Pros of Making and Using Your Own Laundry Soap

1. Making your laundry soap saves you money. The recipe I used to make the laundry soap asked for one box of baking soda, one box of baking soda wash, and a bar of natural soap. The recipe said I only had to add a tablespoon of mix per load. After all, is said and done, I spent about $15. It made about 4 quarts of laundry soap and 256 loads worth of soap.
2. By making your laundry soap, you are becoming more economically friendly. Have you ever seen commercials of how much laundry soap waste you go through in a lifetime? It is a large number of plastic containers piled up. The thought made me a little self-conscious as I watched this commercial. I try my best not to waste things and treat the planet respectfully. With that said, you save a lot of wasted plastic because you reuse the same container repeatedly for your laundry soap. (except the cardboard that carries the ingredients)
3. Making your own laundry soap is fantastic if you are sensitive to smells. If you don't like the smell of laundry detergent, making your own is perfect! Sure, you might buy soap with a slight lavender or peppermint smell, but you don't have to.
4. Do you know what you're putting in your clothes? A lot of people worry about the chemicals being used in their homes. When you make your laundry soap, you can tell everyone exactly what the ingredients are in it and the compounds that make it up. 
5. You are a little more self-sufficient. I don't know about you, but I like being able to get along alone without the help of everyone around me. With this being said, it isn't bad to have help, but it is nice to know that you can take care of yourself in a tight situation. When making your laundry soap, you now know how to clean your clothes even if tide pods are unavailable. 
6. Ingredients to make your soap are easy to come by. Most stores carry baking soda, lye soap, and baking soda wash. Vinegar is also an easy ingredient to find. I have heard of other women who add vinegar to their homemade laundry soap.

Cons of Making and Using Your Own Laundry Soap

1. It didn't seem like the laundry soap cleaned my clothes. I lost my sense of smell after Covid and have never fully regained it. With that being said, I still caught whiffs of terrible stinky diapers all week after I washed my daughter's diapers in the homemade laundry soap.
2. It didn't feel like I had saved that much money. I usually buy the Arm and Hammer laundry detergent, which costs around $13 for 170 loads. I spent about $15 on the ingredients to make my homemade soap. One tablespoon of soap was not doing it for me. I had to add four or five tablespoons. I could have been saving more with the store brands.
3. I don't know about you, but I don't want to buy a new washer! In researching it further, I found too many sources that explained that using your laundry detergent (mainly the bar of soap that you shred) puts your washing machine at risk for residue buildup. This eventually leads to your washer breaking.
4. Destroying your clothes. Again after researching and reading tons of articles, I found that making your soap leads to a thick buildup on your clothes that is hard to get rid of.

"Our goal is to help the world make decisions with a list of Pros and Cons. We invite all to add to our lists to help others make the most educated decision possible. We are all in this world together to help each other and learn from what others have learned from their lives journey."  Pros and Cons Team

Written By: Sarah