Substitute for Borax?

Natural homemade cleaning recipes are all the rage on the internet right now! It's exciting to have so many options for natural cleaning products.  Unfortunately many of the recipes contain the natural product Borax.  Borax is natural (by the fact that it can be mined) but it is also toxic which is why I want to avoid it if possible.

Yes, I do love the Soap Nuts for use as laundry detergent.  However, I've heard from many people that making your own homemade laundry soap is even more cost effective than the Soap Nuts.   I've also heard that homemade laundry soap works just as well (if not better) than regular detergent.  I ended up finding a recipe on the Duggars website. It is what they use for their family of 20 (soon to be 21)!

This recipe includes water, washing soda, borax, and melted bars of soap. This recipe yields hundreds of loads for approximately $3.00. Sounds like a great deal to me! I want to try it, but it contains borax. I'm on a search to find a recipe that contains no harsh chemicals and that is also non-toxic.

These were some suggestions I found as Substitutes for Borax:

• Arm & Hammar Washing Soda (for use in laundry or general household cleaning)


• Baking Soda or Salt (for abrasive scrubbing)

Not a lot of solutions!  Have any of you readers out there (yeah, all 5 of you!)  heard of any other substitutions for Borax?