A friend of mine from high school blogged a while back about making laundry soap from scratch as a Mother's Day gift for the ladies in her life. It's super cheap and easy to make, and it's good for sensitive skin. As soon as I saw that, I knew I had to try it. Laundry soap is so pricey, and the stuff that's made for sensitive skin still makes me itchy. This stuff is GREAT! It actually cleans, doesn't leave my whites dingy, is CHEAP (4 cents a load!) and it doesn't make me itchy (which is the most important thing to me). I just made another batch today and it took less than half an hour! Last time I made it, I split it with my mom and my grandma, AND gave a few batches worth to a neighbor and it lasted me TWO MONTHS. That's two months of heavy duty laundry- 5 people's clothes, towels, sheets and blankets, plus our sleeping bags. So, without further ado, here is the recipe.
Laundry Soap Recipe
Laundry Soap Recipe
Water
1 bar grated Fels Naptha soap
(If you're in Utah, you can find this at Macey's. If not, you can buy it online at soapsgonebuy.com, or you can use the Dial Corporate website: http://www.dialsoap.com/, to find out where it's sold near you. You should be able to find the soap, soda and borax ALL in the laundry aisle at your local supermarket.)
(If you're in Utah, you can find this at Macey's. If not, you can buy it online at soapsgonebuy.com, or you can use the Dial Corporate website: http://www.dialsoap.com/, to find out where it's sold near you. You should be able to find the soap, soda and borax ALL in the laundry aisle at your local supermarket.)
5 gallon bucket
1 cup washing soda (Arm and Hammer- NOT baking soda.)
1 cup 20 Mule Team Borax
4 1/2 gallons water
Put grated Fels Naptha in saucepan and cover with water. Heat on low until dissolved. Fill bucket with hot water and add soap. Stir to combine. Add 1 cup washing soda and 1 cup borax and mix well. As it cools, it will thicken. If mixture becomes too thick, add hot water to thin it to desired consistency. May be used immediately. Mix well before each use. Use 1/2(normal) to 1 cup per load (heavy). Cost per load .04.
TIP: The above recipes will NOT make suds in your washer so don't be alarmed. Fels Naptha Soap is a pure soap and typically makes little or no suds in the water. This makes it perfect for use in the new HE washers as well as tradional washers. You will also notice the need to either reduce your laundry softener or in most cases you can even eliminate the use of softener completely.
Tip:
TIP: The above recipes will NOT make suds in your washer so don't be alarmed. Fels Naptha Soap is a pure soap and typically makes little or no suds in the water. This makes it perfect for use in the new HE washers as well as tradional washers. You will also notice the need to either reduce your laundry softener or in most cases you can even eliminate the use of softener completely.
Tip:
To keep the liquid detergent stirred up, put a few marbles in the storage jug. The marbles will help mix everything and keep it mixed.
5 comments:
what kind of jug do you keep it in? I am so going to try this!!!
Last time around, I split the batch, so I just put it into some old laundry jugs with spouts that I had washed out really well. This time I'm keeping the whole 4 1/2+ gallons, so I'll just keep it in the 5 gallon bucket. If you have limited space, you could pour it into 1 gallon milk jugs while it's still hot- but then you'll definitely want to add marbles to it to shake it up with, because it get thickens and separates a bit.
I think I'm going to talk to the husband about this and try it out. Thanks for sharing!
A question... Heidi, do you need to use hot water when washing or can you use cold water? Also, do you need to use the extra rinse cycle? And last but not least, I checked out soapsgonebuy.com and saw a "Dry" version... Have you used that, and if so is it any good?
Thanks again for posting this. You are awesome!
Tamara- I just wash like normal- hot water for my whites, warm for the colors and cold for the darks. I always use the extra rinse, because of my sensitive skin. And I have tried the dry- it works really good. It's just more expensive per load. Still less than store bought soap, though. :)
Also, after using it for a few months, I have noticed that it's leaving a ring around the top of my washer. It scrubs right off though, and I'm now sending a Downy ball full of vinegar through with it. It helps remove ANY residual soap, and makes the clothes a little softer. AND it doesn't smell like vinegar when they're all done.
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