First off, I claim no ownership over this recipe. I learned about making your own laundry soap through a friend who got her recipe off the following website, The Family Homestead. I must admit, it seemed like a terribly hippie-ish practice, and I was a bit of a skeptic. I mean Tide does a good enough job, right?
My reasons for doing this are really nothing noble. For the most part, it has zero to do with the environment or saving the whales. I'm not particularly concerned about the chemicals in store bought soaps (and yes, I realize that some of you think I should be). To be honest...I'm just plain 'ol cheap! Nothing more to it than that!
Making my own laundry soap has saved us a considerable amount of money. With 4 people in our family, we do a lot of laundry, but even still, we do a lot less than most families of four. I'd say we average 4-6 loads per week.
So the recipe? Easy peasy. The ingredients are easy to come by in your local grocery store (I bought all of mine at Safeway), and the best part, inexpensive.
1 Bar Sunlight Laundry Soap
1/2 Cup Arm & Hammer Washing Soda
1/2 Cup Borax 20 Mule Team
*You will also need a large pail (eg. a 5 gallon).
I'd say all three ingredients cost under $15, and although you need a full bar of Sunlight per batch, you would have enough in the Borax and Washing Soda boxes to make almost 10 batches (so you would just have to buy more Sunlight bars). Fairly amazing. Did I mention each batch washes up to 64 loads of laundry? That's some serious bang for your buck!#1. Enlist a cute helper!
#2. Get your kettle boiling with 4 cups of water in it (you'll use this later). Then grate the entire bar of Sunlight soap. An IKEA cheese grater is perfect for this task.
#3. Add 6 Cups of cold water to a large stock pot. Add the grated soap. Medium heat, until the soap melts, and looks like this:
#4. Keep cute helper busy.
#5. Add the washing soda and Borax and stir until dissolved. It will start to thicken and look like this:
#.6. Once dissolved, remove from heat. Pour 4 cups of boiling water into your pail and then add your soap mixture (into the pail). Then add another gallon (4 litres) of cold water, plus 6 more cups of cold water to the pail.
I hope that isn't as confusing as it reads...
#7. Let your soap sit for 24 hours, and then it will be ready to use. It will look like this:
You will use 1/2 cup per load. It won't have the suds of typical laundry soap, but don't worry, that's not what's making your clothes clean. I don't find it has much of a scent to it, so I still add about a tablespoon or so of scented laundry detergent. And believe me, I am a fan. It takes me about 20 minutes to put this all together, start to finish, and then it lasts me about 3 months. Amazing!
#3. Add 6 Cups of cold water to a large stock pot. Add the grated soap. Medium heat, until the soap melts, and looks like this:
#4. Keep cute helper busy.
#5. Add the washing soda and Borax and stir until dissolved. It will start to thicken and look like this:
#.6. Once dissolved, remove from heat. Pour 4 cups of boiling water into your pail and then add your soap mixture (into the pail). Then add another gallon (4 litres) of cold water, plus 6 more cups of cold water to the pail.I hope that isn't as confusing as it reads...
#7. Let your soap sit for 24 hours, and then it will be ready to use. It will look like this:
You will use 1/2 cup per load. It won't have the suds of typical laundry soap, but don't worry, that's not what's making your clothes clean. I don't find it has much of a scent to it, so I still add about a tablespoon or so of scented laundry detergent. And believe me, I am a fan. It takes me about 20 minutes to put this all together, start to finish, and then it lasts me about 3 months. Amazing!
Is it liquid when you're done? I was given some homemade laundry soap for my cloth diapers and it's a powder.
ReplyDeleteThat does look super easy and cost effective. But I think if I try it, it'll be for the hippy aspect. haha.
You think you'll try making bar soap next?
Yup, its like a goopy liquid gel. Does that even make sense? I leave it in my bin beside the washing machine, without a lid, and it never hardens.
ReplyDeleteAnd nope, I have no desire to make bar soap at this point. Two reasons. A nice $5 bar of soap lasts for a good while, and is easy to come by. Secondly, while I'm sure it is cost effective, Rob's Mom make her own bar soap and it seems like quite the process, which I'm not particularly interested in.
Oh Holly, when will you quit fighting your inner hippie? It just keeps seeping out in all these 'cost cutting' ways of yours.
ReplyDeleteI do like that you emphasized how easy it is to make.
Do you think you should reduce the amount used for a front loader?
And to follow up on linda's question-- do you know if its okay for "high efficiency' front end loaders (or whatever the HE thing means in reference to the new machines)?
ReplyDeleteSorry, ladies, I looked into this and then completely forgot to answer. I can't find anything on her site to say that it could not be used in HE machine (or whether or not that would reduce the amount needed).
ReplyDeleteShe does say, "I have had many ladies with HE machines email me or mention on my boards that they have HE machines and they use this soap and they don’t have problems."
Maybe some good 'ol trial and error is required?
From what I can see, HE machines require special soap that is low sudsing (can that be a word?), and this DIY soap really has zero sudsing action, so I would say its fine.
ReplyDelete*Disclaimer, this is a completely uneducated guess, and therefore, I shall not be sued or given angry comments due to my lack of education in the realm of DIY soap ;)
It seems with normal soap you reduce the amount of soap used to reduce the suds (in a HE machine), but due to the lack of suds-ness of the DIY soap, I would say the 1/2 cup would still be fine.
*Again, I'll "disclaim, this is not a professional opinion, just plain old common sense, Nepper style.
This is JUST what I have been looking for. I am also SUPER cheap. Excited to try it and save $$ :)
ReplyDelete