I've been experimenting with homemade laundry soap for a while now, thanks to my brilliantly homemakered sister-in-law Casey. It is really easy to make and from what I've read it seems like the softer the water you have, the easier it is to find the right ratio of ingredients. Unfortunately, we live in Hard Water Central and I've had to try a few different combos.
I made a new batch this morning and here is my latest recipe:
- 1/3 bar of Fels Naptha laundry bar soap
- 1 cup Borax (among other things, this is a water softener)
- 1 cup Washing Soda (this is NOT baking soda. Learned that one the hard way...)
Get 6 cups water heating in a saucepan. Grate the Fels Naptha soap with a cheese grater and add to the water. Stir until it is dissolved. Add the Borax and Washing Soda and stir until it is dissolved. Remove from heat. Add 4 cups of water to a larger plastic container (I use an old ice cream bucket) and add the mixture you've just made. Add one more gallon of warm water and mix.
This is the hard part: Put the lid on it and wait 24 hours.
When you open it up the next day it is all goopy and chunky and perfect. I take a potato masher and squish it up, but you don't have to. Then I use about 1/2 cup with each load, but I'm going to have to experiment with this with the adjustments I made above. (I added more borax and washing soda) In the past I've added a small scoop of Oxi-Clean to each load too and a dash of bleach to every few washes of whites. We'll see if I'll need to still do that.
There are also dry laundry recipes that call for the same 3 ingredients that you can just put in a mason jar. I have a front loader so I wanted a liquid.
I think I was able to get all of these ingredients at Maceys. I know that's where I got the Washing Soda. As a side note, I called the manufacturer Dial at 1-888-468-6673 and got a $.35 coupon for the Fels Naptha among other coupons. The lady I talked to said I could request coupons every 3 months. Sweet. I think it's time to call again. I don't remember too well about where I got this stuff because it has been so long since I had to buy it. One batch of laundry soap lasts a long time and each of these items makes multiple batches.
If you're interested in more info, here are some links I found on homemade laundry soap:
- The Simple Dollar: a step-by-step picture guide to making the liquid stuff. He also has a break-down of the cost to make it.
- Choosing Voluntary Simplicity: she actually is not so fond of the liquid stuff, but there are a ton of really good comments with variations on recipes that have worked well for people.
We've been using a recipe similar to this for about four months. I like it. I miss the smell of tide, but have gotten over that. I make it in a 5 gallon batch and keep it in a big bucket.
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