Skip to main content

Give Me Some Dirty Laundry (kick 'em when they're up, kick 'em when they're down...)

I finally got around to trying something that I've been want to try for a while now: making homemade laundry soap! It was really fun! (Yeah, I know, the things that excite me...haha).


Here are the ingredients:
  • Arm & Hammer Washing Soda
  • 20 Mule Team Borax
  • bar of Fels-Naptha soap
  • 5 gallon bucket w/lid
  • water
  • essential oil for fragrance, if desired
The first step was to grate the bar of soap and put it into a pan full of hot water on the stovetop. *Cook* it on high until the soap is completely dissolved, stirring with a wooden spoon (but don't let it boil).

Next get your bucket and put in 1/2 cup of the Borax and 1 cup of the Washing Soda. Then pour in your soapy water mixture, stirring until the Borax and Washing Soda has dissolved. Then fill your bucket nearly to the top with hot tap water. Using a very long spoon, mix it well. This is also the time to add a few drops of your essential oil (like lavender) if you are using that.  Stir very well then put the lid on and let it sit 24 hours.

After 24 hours are up, go check out your soap. It will have turned into a thick, gelled soapy substance. I suggest you use a large stainless-steel spoon to stir it up, because a wooden one just isn't strong enough to stir through the gel at this point. (Trust me, I speak from experience).

After you've stirred it all up, you can fill up a recycled laundry detergent bottle using a funnel. Then you're ready to wash clothes! Just use 1/2 cup of detergent (basically a cap-full) with a full load of {even very dirty} laundry.

I can't believe how little this stuff costs! The boxes of detergent were just around $3 each (and I'll get many batches of this soap with them!), the soap was just a couple of dollars and the bucket & lid only cost $1.47 at Wal-Mart. So you really are washing your clothes for pennies a load! And I am very pleased with the results of my laundry~it's washing everything very well.


This post is linked to Show & Tell Friday at My Romantic Home.
Labels:

Comments

Anonymous said…
Good morning! Thank you for sharing your laundry soap experience. I am excited to try the "recipe" myself, but have one question: Does this formula work in a front loading machine? Is the consistency the same as liquid detergent?
Thanks!
February 11, 2010 at 9:11 AM
Lori said…
Hi there. I have been using homemade soap since November and I am still in shock at how good it works!!! I have an HE washing machine and only have to use 1/4 cup for each load. One gallon lasted me over a month..and I do two loads everyday.

Talk about saving lots of money! :)

Enjoy your soap!
February 11, 2010 at 11:02 AM
Lora @ my blessed life said…
The consistency is a little *lumpier* than store-bought detergent, but works the same. I don't know much about front-loading machines, but I would think it would work the same.
February 11, 2010 at 2:01 PM
Michelle M. said…
I am SOO excited about this! Do you think it is safe for cloth diapers, too?
February 12, 2010 at 3:07 PM
Elizabeth said…
I will definitely have to try this. It sounds very environmentally friendly, too! :)
February 12, 2010 at 3:15 PM
Lora @ my blessed life said…
Michelle~
I would think it would be just fine. My son has excema I have to use a more gentle detergent and no fabric softener. He seems to be doing fine with this so far. Also, for a natural fabric softener I am using vinegar. Just add about 1/3-1/2 cup of vinegar to your fabric softener spot (or Downey ball) and proceed as usual. There is no smell, it washes out, but softens your clothes naturally.
February 12, 2010 at 4:57 PM
Michelle M. said…
I think I am really going to do this. The baby has eczema, too. I already use vinegar with my laundry for its disinfecting properties (especially with the cloth diapers). Thanks!
February 13, 2010 at 3:19 PM
tlmcmurray said…
I use the same ingredients and just leave it as a powder. Easier for me than trying to cook it.
February 15, 2010 at 3:34 PM
Lori said…
I just shared this on my Facebook. I so want to try this! Thanks for showing me how!

~Lori
June 29, 2011 at 9:17 PM
summer said…
hey. i just found your blog thru another homeschooler site. i use the same ingredients in my laundry detergent...only mine is powdered. found it online somewhere (sorry, i usually give credit where credit is due)... 1 grated bar of ivory, about an inch grated bar of fels-naptha and about an inch grated bar of zoto soap (huge pink bar you can get at walmart or target) - these add stain removing qualities. add grated soaps to 1 cup baking soda and 1 cup borax. mix and use only 1 tbsp/load!! for really dirty loads, i sometimes sneak in 1 1/2 tbsp. i keep it in a large reusable lidded bowl on top of my washer. And i haven't used powder in YEARS before this, due to the clumping/dust issues. i have a front load he washer and have not had any problems!! and i gotta say, being pregnant with my second (and having way more nausea with this one)...honestly, i could lose my breakfast, that i haven't even had, just looking at the gel process! LOL so, powdered works for me!
July 1, 2011 at 9:41 AM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Reading Game: A Review

I was excited to receive this review product recently, thinking my 1st-grade-son could really benefit and enjoy it a lot. And I was right! He is having so much fun with this game. The Reading Game is a fast-paced memory card game using words. The game comes with 6 sets of memory cards with 6 corresponding readers. The idea is for you and your student to play memory with each set of cards (playing 6 rounds with each set), after every 2 rounds your student then reads 2 test sentences to see how he is retaining the new words he is learning. After the whole set has been played, he is then ready to read the corresponding reader...and has learned 30 new words! By the time your student has played every set of cards and read every reader, he will have learned 180 words. Of the 25 most common English words, 23 are on that list; of the 50 most common words, 42 are on that list. So this little game of reading really does prepare your student well. The readers are illustrated with cute ...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Making of an Egyptian Death Mask

We are learning all about the ancient world this year with Story of the World I and loving it! We've been learning a lot about Egypt, of course, which is completely fascinating. Most recently we have studied the New Kingdom of Egypt, which includes the story of King Tut. So we decided making an Egyptian death mask in the style of King Tut's would be a fun project. First since it was too cold at the time to paper mache in the garage (it probably would have frozen instead of dried-ha) and it was too messy to do it in the house, we decided to pick up a couple of cheap craft masks at Hobby Lobby. Next we cut out cardboard shapes to complete the shape of the death mask, attaching them with hot glue. Vince even put a little detail on the *beard* with the hot glue per The Princess' request. Then the kiddos started to paint them with this metallic gold tempera paint. It worked okay for the cardboard, but would not coat the plastic of the mask. We thought maybe a second coat ...
23 comments
Read more

Door Hanger Chore Charts

My kids have had a chore chart for a while.  It's one of those magnetic boards and they share it.  However, it's not by their rooms and often they (and I) forget to update it.  Plus it's a little bulky.   When I saw the concept of a door hanger chore chart on Pinterest, I loved it!  It was compact, right there were the kiddos could see it coming out and going into their rooms, and it costs almost nothing to make.   I headed over to one of my favorite stores: Hobby Lobby, of course.  They  have these little wooden door hangers for .79.  I also grabbed a couple of packets of decorative buttons for $1.99 each.  I already had the clothes pins and the paint so those cost me nothing.   I began by painting the door hangers (I used tempera paints because that's what I had).  Then I grabbed a fine point Sharpie and the clothes pins and started writing chores on them, making sure to write them correctly so they will ...
17 comments
Read more