We've been making and using homemade laundry soap for over a year now. We love it.
It works really well. People who have sensitive skin love it.
And the #1 reason to love it is because it's VERY
INEXPENSIVE. $2.00 for 640 loads of laundry.
Another bonus is that you can store the ingredients in a small space vs. storing bottles and bottles of laundry soap.
Here's the method I use. Let me know if you have any questions.
Ingredients & Supplies for Homemade Laundry Soap / Detergent:
I store all of my ingredients and supplies in my 5 gallon bucket in my garage.
-- 1/2 cup Borax-- 1 bar of Fels-Naptha soap (I buy this at WalMart for $1 per bar.)
-- 1 cup Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda (I buy this at Smith’s. Baking Soda will not work, nor will Arm & Hammer Detergent - It must be sodium carbonate.)
-- Bottles to store soap in.
We save the gallon apple juice containers to store our homemade laundry soap in. You will need 10 of them.
I fill an apple juice container with 2 quarts (1/2 a gallon) of water and mark the 1/2 way point with a sharpie.
Then I add 2 more quarts of water and make a mark that says "fill " at the gallon point. I do this on 1 empty bottle and then eyeball it on the other bottles.
After we use all of the soap in a bottle we save it for the next time we make the homemade laundry soap.
--Hand grater
I bought a grater that I just use just to grate the soap at the Dollar Store.
-- Funnel to pour soap into bottles.
I use an oil funnel I picked up at WalMart for $1.50. We have several of these that also work great as bath and beach toys.
-- Beach shovel to stir mixture with (see photo below). This is the best item I have found to do the stirring with.
-- 5 gallon bucket to mix everything in.
Recipe for Homemade Laundry Soap / Detergent:
1. Grate bar of soap with a hand grater. It will look like a pile of cheese.
2. Add grated soap to saucepan with 4 cups of water.
Stir continually over medium-low heat until soap dissolves and is melted.
I use an old pan just for soap making.
3. Fill 5 gallon bucket 1/2 way with hot water.
I do this in my bathtub so I can get a large volume of really hot water.
Instead of trying to guess where the 1/2 way mark is I measure 2.5 gallons, and mark the 1/2 way point with a Sharpie.
4. Add melted soap, 1 cup washing soda and 1/2 cup Borax to bucket halfway full of water.
Stir well until all powder is dissolved.
Fill bucket with 2.5 more gallons of hot water.
I stir it with a large kid’s beach shovel.
5. Stir, cover with a dishtowel or bucket lid and let sit overnight to thicken.
I just leave the bucket in the bathtub overnight.
6. Re-stir in the morning and fill empty bottles 1/2 full of homemade laundry soap.
Since the bucket is really heavy, I just do this process in the bathroom.
I use a funnel to pour the soap into the bottles.
7. Add water until bottles are full. 50% soap mixture / 50% water.
Shake well before each use as soap will gel.
Yield: Makes 10 gallons of soap.
Front Load Machine: 1/4 cup per load (Approx. 640 loads for $2.00)
I keep a 1/4 cup measuring cup in my laundry room for measuring.
Top Load Machine: 5/8 cup per load (Approx. 180 loads for $2.00)
