DIY Washing Soda: How To Make Washing Soda From Baking Soda

While I now know that making DIY washing soda from baking soda is incredibly easy, I didn’t even know what washing soda was before I started making my own homemade laundry detergent. These days, washing soda is staple in my laundry room, aiding in everything from stain removal to softening hard water!

Since I find it so useful in my own laundry room, I want to make sure that everyone knows how easy it is to make at home! But before we get to that, I want to start with quick review of some washing soda basics, like what it is and what washing soda can be used for.

A Quick Refresher On Washing Soda

Washing soda, otherwise known as sodium carbonate or soda ash, is just a water-soluble salt with a very basic pH of 11. When dissolved in water, washing soda makes an alkaline solution with powerful cleaning and water softening properties. It makes a great cleaning agent, laundry booster, and more!

As far as safety goes, washing soda gets an A rating from the Environmental Working Group, which means they recognize it as non-toxic and generally safe to use. But similarly to many other cleaning agents, washing soda can be irritating to skin, so it’s best to wear gloves when handling it.

If you’d like to learn more, my in-depth guide to washing soda is a great resource! It covers everything you need to know, including how washing soda differs from baking soda, borax, and other laundry powers.

Is Washing Soda The Same As Baking Soda?

Although baking soda and washing soda are not the same, they are related! Washing soda is sodium carbonate (Na2CO3), while baking soda is sodium bicarbonate (NaCHO3).

In addition to the many ways you can use baking soda around the house, it has another useful property too — you can turn baking soda into washing soda using just your oven!

How Do You Use Washing Soda?

While washing soda is highly useful for cleaning everything from dirty dishes to toilet bowls, it’s mainly marketed as a laundry booster. In fact, I first learned about washing soda back when I was developing my homemade laundry detergent recipes. After sharing those recipes on my blog, I received a number of emails from international readers asking for advice, because they couldn’t find soda ash anywhere in their country!

That was how I ended up learning you can make your own washing soda at home! If you ever find yourself in a situation where you can’t find washing soda locally, you’ll be glad you learned how it make it yourself.

How To Make Washing Soda From Baking Soda

You’ll need:

• Baking soda
• Cookie sheet

Directions:

Spread baking soda evenly across a cookie sheet, and break up any clumps, if present. (You can use any amount of baking soda, as long as it fits on the cookie sheet in a relatively thin layer.)

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees, then bake the baking soda for 1 hour. The heat from your oven will convert baking soda to washing soda by cooking off excess water and carbon dioxide. (Cool, right?)

Allow the washing soda to cool, then transfer it to an airtight container for storage. Use your washing soda as an ingredient in homemade laundry detergent, soften hard water, to scour messes out of a baking dish, and much more!

If you compare your DIY washing soda with baking soda side by side, one thing you’ll notice is that washing soda feels a bit grainy compared to the silky smooth baking soda. (Fun fact: The washing soda will also weigh less than the baking soda did originally, due to the loss of water and carbon dioxide.)

Note: You can also make washing soda on your stovetop, in a toaster oven, or even in an air fryer — as long as the baking soda gets hot enough, long enough! (I would avoid trying to make washing soda in your microwave, though, since bicarbonate doesn’t play well with microwaves.)

Where Can I Buy Washing Soda?

If you don’t want to make it yourself, you can usually find Arm & Hammer super washing soda in the laundry aisle at grocery stores and big box chains. If you don’t see it right away, check the top and bottom shelves. That’s where I usually find it!

You can also find washing soda online at Amazon and other online retailers. Some people suggest getting it from pool suppliers, but industrial forms of sodium carbonate (like AquaChem) have a slightly different chemical structure and may not be suitable for household use. Better to stick to the store-bought and homemade varieties!

Have you made DIY washing soda at home?