Wednesday, November 9, 2011

Homemade Laundry Soap / Detergent







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)
   

Driving Down the Road...


We were on our way home from Utah last year and spotted this little disaster in the making.

Mike wanted to call the Highway Patrol and warn them of them of the accident waiting to happen.

Now whenever we see something crazy strapped to a car we laugh and remember the van with the flying mattress.

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I am full time wife and Mom. Jasper is my busy 3 year old who keeps us on our toes. I like to sew and craft and make our house a home. I love to be outside and play with my boys.