7.15.2009

homemade laundry soap

I've been wanting to do this for a while and have been recently inspired by someone on FB that mentioned she makes her own laundry soap. Making it is actually very easy! With a few products you can make your own soap batch after batch. Tide is so expensive and this method will save you a bundle! I've done 3 loads so far and everything looks clean!


Ingredients
1/2 C. Borax
1/2 C. Super Washing Soda (sodium carbonate)
1/3 Bar Fels Naptha Soap (Grated)


Heat 6 cups of water in large sauce pan.
Grate Fels Naptha soap.
Add to the hot water. Stir until dissolved.
Add Borax and Washing Soda.
Stir until dissolved.

Add 4 cups of cold water to a large bucket. Stir in soap mix, add another gallon of water plus 6 more cups of water. Let sit for 24 hours then stir again. It will look a little like egg drop soup. Gelatinous and watery. Use 1/2 C. for each load. (1 C. for large loads) The soap does not create suds but I've read that's okay. They say suds don't clean, the ingredients you use are the cleaning agent.

3 comments:

  1. Hey Shannon! Thanks for the detailed instructions and photos!

    What do you think about adding scents to it? What does it end up smelling like? I think it would be cool to craft my own scent that I would love to smell everyday...

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  2. I have been wanting to do this. Thanks for the reminder and recipe!

    Rebecca

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  3. I just made my second batch and doubled it this time. The first batch lasted about a month, so I'm thinking I'll get 2 months out of a doubled batch. My clothes smell very clean, and the small grease-like stains I had been seeing with store-bought laundry soap have seemed to vanish! I've noticed my whites are looking a little dingy though, so I'll be adding some Bleach or OxiClean to those loads. I've seen a homemade recipe for Oxiclean too. Maybe that's my next project.

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