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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.
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