Homemade Laundry Soap
For several months I had toiled with making my own laundry soap. I wasn't sure if it would really work. I was afraid that if would leave my laundry looking "dingy" and not smell clean! My mother-in-law starting making her own laundry soap and really liked it. I had looked up many recipes on YouTube.com and found they were mostly the same. I talked it over with the hubby and he wasn't so keen on it. He thought it would be too much work so I left it at that. I knew I wanted to get away from all the harsh chemicals in laundry soap. Who really needs 20 plus ingredients in your laundry soap?? And, why should we have to pay bookoo's of money for all natural and organic?? I started buying Organic Laundry soap at Sam's Club because I could get it in bulk and pay less for it. The only problem was that our "local" Sam's club is about 45 minutes away! SO, I factored in the drive up there, time spent, and amount used and decided to give making my own detergent a try! I bought everything I needed and one day I put it all together! The recipe called for Ivory Soap but I instead used Irish Spring (my favorite bar soap)! I made a 5 gallon bucket of it for CHEAP!! I started to do laundry and really didn't notice a different in the store bought and homemade. I had fallen way behind on laundry and had it piled high in just about every room of the house. We were leaving for vacation in a week and I knew I needed to get all this laundry done. I used my homemade soap. It works awesome! I have been working on the 5 gallon bucket for the past 2 months and I still have about 1/4 of the bucket left!! I use a little more than the recipe called for per load because I have 2 kids who love to play in dirt! I also add about a 1/4 scoop of Oxy Clean to help boost the detergent for those tough stains! Only using a 1/4 scoop of the Oxy Clean, I am able to stretch that further...saving more money!!
This is just one way that we are going green! We are not having to deal with all the "chemicals" in our laundry soap and we are saving money by making our own and making it in bulk! I also have a recipe for stretching your fabric softener and making homemade house cleaners! But, that's another blog! For now, here is the recipe for homemade laundry soap (my way)!
Oh, and by the way, Hubby is on board with it now!!!
Homemade Laundry Soap
3 1/2 gallons hot water
1 1/2 gallons boiling water
1/2 cup Borax
1 cup Washing Soda, NOT BAKING SODA
2 bars of soap ( I use Irish Spring, but you can also use Ivory)*see note below
5 gallon bucket
Grate 2 bars of soap. You can use a food processor or hand grater. Fill bucket with 3 1/2 gallons of hot water. I usually have hubby take it into the bathroom and fill it in the tub with hot water. On the stove, add 1 1/2 gallons water to a large pot. Add grated soap and stir until melted. I use a whisk at the beginning and then at the end I use a slotted spoon to make sure its all melted. The soap will foam up, just turn your heat down and keep stirring. Once it is melted, Take the Borax and Washing Soda and add to bucket of water and stir till dissolved. Add in soap mixture and stir until completely combined. You may notice that this is not a really smooth mixture. It will start to "gel" up with is normal. Replace lid and let it sit over night. the next morning, remove lid and stir, it will be gel like. I use 1 cup per load. I always do extra large loads. If you are doing medium loads, use 1/2 to 2/3 cup. This soap doesn't suds up like store bought. That could be because it doesn't have all the Chemicals in it!!
* I use 1 1/2 bars of Irish spring and 1/3 bar of Fels-Naphtha, which is a laundry bar soap that you can find in the laundry isle of any store. I don't care for the smell of Fels-Naphtha, that's why I use 1/3 bar. It helps with stains as well!!
I hope you enjoy!!
Next time I make a batch, I will video it and add it on here!
~Remember to put God first, and everything else will follow~
