Today was laundry soap making day! I started making my own laundry soap about 2 years ago. I really like it and use it regularly for my towels, dishcloths and some clothes. DH finds it doesn't get all the smell out of his stinky boy clothes, but I find it works great for mine. There are many recipes out there for laundry soap. I still would like to try making a liquid version, but they take much more time to make. This is a simple recipe that can be made up within a half hour and lasts months.
The ingredients are simple (per one load):
- 1x Ivory soap bars
- 1/2 cup Washing soda
- 1/2 cup Borax
Other supplies needed are:
- Large mixing bowl and spoon
- Grater (or a food processor that can be used for non-food items)
- Jars or containers to store the soap in
Before trying this recipe, I hadn't used washing soda or Borax before, but I found them easily in the laundry detergent or cleaning section of a large grocery store. The boxes were probably about $5.00 each, and make multiple loads of laundry soap.
The first step is to grate the soap finely. I find that with older soap the texture is a bit tougher, whereas fresh soap grates softly and quickly. I like the texture of the older soap better. This time I used one scented soap of aloe vera. Oh, I also do multiple batches at once since it is so easy. This time I did 3 bars of soap, though I normally do 5-6.
Once it's grated you'll have a nice pile of soap shavings.
Then you add the Borax and Washing soda (1/2 cup per load)
Then you mix, mix, mix! You want to make sure everything is well integrated and that there aren't many lumps of borax (as it gets older it hardens up more).
By the end, you should have quite a fine mixture like this.
Then jar it up....
And put it up for display!
Nice and pretty. I use about 1-2 Tbsp per load and it works great.
Happy laundry everyone!
I'd love to try this. One stupid question, though: how does it work with the high efficiency washers? Do you just throw the detergent in the drum with the clothes or can you actually use the detergent slot?
ReplyDeleteNot a stupid question at all. I do put the detergent in the slot and it works great! There is no residue left and my clothes come out nice and clean. I worried about using it with a HE system, but was told it would work fine and so far it has. Since we alternate with store bought detergents, I figure they give the system a good clean time to time too.
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