Hello folks! I know about every other homemaking blog out there has a laundry detergent tutorial, but I thought I'd do my own anyway. It is so cheap and easy to make, and for the two of us, a five-gallon pail lasts a LONG time.
Homemade Laundry Soap
½ cup borax
1 cup washing soda
5-6 oz. soap, grated
3 gallons water
5-gallon bucket with a lid
Instructions:
1. Measure out the borax and washing soda. I would recommend storing these items in a glass or otherwise air-tight container, because in a humid area it might cake up, dry out and be impossible to measure.
2. Grate the soap. A lot of recipes call for the use of Fels-Naptha, which is a wonderful soap. However, Hubs and I don't need stain-removing power in our laundry soap (I just use a spray-on stain remover when necessary), and $3 per bar makes it less frugal than just using regular soap. In the picture below, I used free hotel soap and some homemade soap chunks. I used a Kitchen Aid grating attachment to grate the soap. This is a LOT easier than making soap shavings by hand, and a lot faster, too.
Homemade Laundry Soap
½ cup borax
1 cup washing soda
5-6 oz. soap, grated
3 gallons water
5-gallon bucket with a lid
Instructions:
1. Measure out the borax and washing soda. I would recommend storing these items in a glass or otherwise air-tight container, because in a humid area it might cake up, dry out and be impossible to measure.
2. Grate the soap. A lot of recipes call for the use of Fels-Naptha, which is a wonderful soap. However, Hubs and I don't need stain-removing power in our laundry soap (I just use a spray-on stain remover when necessary), and $3 per bar makes it less frugal than just using regular soap. In the picture below, I used free hotel soap and some homemade soap chunks. I used a Kitchen Aid grating attachment to grate the soap. This is a LOT easier than making soap shavings by hand, and a lot faster, too.
3. Add 1 quart of water to the soap, and bring to a boil. This will dissolve the soap shavings.
Make sure you're using a large pot... otherwise it might boil over!
4. Put the rest of the water in your five-gallon bucket. At this point, most recipes tell you to put the borax, washing soda and soap water in the bucket, and stir to dissolve the soda and borax. Because my soda was clumpy (thanks, humidity), I thought it would be better to dissolve it in the hot, soapy water, and THEN pour everything into the bucket.
6. Pour everything into the five-gallon bucket, and mix well.
I chose to top off the bucket with water, in order to get more soap out of the recipe.
7. Let the soap sit overnight before using. The next morning, it should have a gel-like consistency. Mine usually turns out a little watery (probably because I use normal soap, and/or add more water), but still works great. I keep a normal laundry detergent cap in the bucket for measuring. For large loads I use two caps-full, and for small loads I only use one cap-full.
7. Let the soap sit overnight before using. The next morning, it should have a gel-like consistency. Mine usually turns out a little watery (probably because I use normal soap, and/or add more water), but still works great. I keep a normal laundry detergent cap in the bucket for measuring. For large loads I use two caps-full, and for small loads I only use one cap-full.
Note: In the past, I've tried adding essential oils to the soap in order to make our clothes smell like lavender/orange/etc. While the oils make the soap smell nice, unfortunately the scent doesn't transfer to our clothes. Because of this, I don't bother adding essential oils to my laundry soap.
Hope you are all having a fantastic weekend!
-Bethany
Hope you are all having a fantastic weekend!
-Bethany
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