Anyone else make their own laundry soap?

[lovelysunlight]

A friend passed a recipe on to me, and we've been making our own laundry soap for about six months now. I LOVE it, and wish I had found it years ago. If you make your own, I'd love to know your recipe!

[mum4boys]

how much do you pay per load to make you own.

I only buy All Clear and Free because of allergies. I pay a little less then 4 cents a load.

[MonkeyPrincess]

Subbing, cause I'd love to hear what recipes there are.
OP, mind posting yours? :

[neetling]

Homemade Laundry Detergent.
1/3 to 1/2 a bar of Fels Naptha or whichever soap you prefer.

1/2 cup washing soda – this is not baking soda, it is usually located in the laundry aisle
1/2 cup borax powder – again find it in the laundry section.

~You will also need a small bucket, about 2 gallon size~
Grate the soap and put it in a sauce pan. Add 6 cups water and heat it until the soap melts. Add the washing soda and the borax and stir until it is dissolved. Remove from heat. Pour 4 cups hot water into the bucket. Now add your soap mixture and stir. Now add 22 cups of water and stir. Let the soap sit for about 24 hours and it will gel. You use ½ cup per load. Soap may be solid "gel" or it may have more of an "egg drop soup" appearance being mostly watery. THIS DOES NOT MATTER! You can get it to look more solid in color and consistency if you stir it forever until it cools most of the way. I don't bother...Just give it a good stir aft er the 24 hours to break up the clumps and you're good to go. This is a low sudsing soap. You will not see suds in the washer.

I C&P'd most of this from the email I received. If it gels I usually whisk it up or put on a glove and squish out the lumps.

I really like it. It's very inexpensive.

[Pancakes]

I use the same recipe as neeting. It comes to less than 1c per load for me. I use far less per load than mentioned because I have an he machine and less does just fine for me.

[MonkeyPrincess]

Originally Posted by neetling

1/3 to 1/2 a bar of Fels Naptha or whichever soap you prefer.

Any kind of bar soap is okay? I usually use Dr. Bronners liquid, but my dh uses one of the Whole Foods brand bar soaps. Can I use one of those?

Thank you for sharing your recipe. I am definitely going to try it.

[crunchy_mama]

I have been interested in this, but have yet to do it. I finally found the washing soda at Kroger the other day and went ahead and bought it- I have had trouble finding it in the past. Right now I have a bunch I had got on close-out, but figure I will try this out whenever I run out in a few months.

I have a question though- I have tons of Dr. Bronners I found at the discount store- is it really ok to use? How much of it is needed? What is the conversion rate?

[PenelopeJune]

What do you mix/store your soap in?

I've been just putting a little baking soda (neither of the stores here carry washing soda ) and scraping a little Ivory soap into the machine, and putting vinegar in the fabric softener hole. But I want to mix it all up ahead of time. We don't have anything with a lid, and I'm paranoid like that. I'm way to cheap to buy a bucket and lid for $6 at Walmart. Any ideas?

[Mom2Adam]

Wanted to sub.

Right now I just use Arm and Hammer powder detergent - but I cut it drastically with plan BS. Sometimes I add a splash of vinegar. This is working fine for us - but we also line dry outside - so I think the sun helps with any staining etc.

I would like an "easier" recipe, tho...LOL. Mostly because I have a baby coming soon and of course cloth diapers with that little one! :

Is anyone using homemade soap and cloth diapering? Would love thoughts on this.

Traci

[neetling]

I use a different soap I found in a grocery store as the Fels Naptha is hard to find and fairly exoensive. There is a link http://www.mothering.com/discussions...d.php?t=114069 that has a lot of good info in it.

I want to find a nice lavender scented bar to use.

I have a friend that use cloth diapers and says this recipe is fine. I think the last time we talked about it, she was using a glycerin soap she bought. I store mine in old juice bottles.

[neetling]

The active ingredient in washing soda is sodium carbonate. I have heard people find it in something in a swimming pool cleaner (can't remember the name of it)

[BeccaSue1029]

You can use a full bar of Ivory soap in place of Fels Naptha...although I liek the smell of FN

[JTA Mom]

Originally Posted by neetling

The active ingredient in washing soda is sodium carbonate. I have heard people find it in something in a swimming pool cleaner (can't remember the name of it)

Yep, there's no plain washing soda in my area, so I went into the pool aisle. It's a ph booster/balancer or something to do with ph, lol. Read the labels and get the one that says 100% sodium carbonate on it.

Here's a recipe that was shared with me. It's a powdered version, so no need to have a giant tub of jelly, lol (btw, I find it better to predissolve it in a cup of hot water before adding it to my front loader):

1/2 Cup Washing Soda (NOT baking soda) btw this is sodium carbonate, you can get it from pool supply stores cheap. I found some in my supermarket in the garden section.

1/2 Cup Borax
1/4 Cup of Oxiclean
and, if you want, 1/2 cup of Baking soda as well
Scented oil of your choice (optional).
Works great. For regular laundry add 1 cup of grated soap bar (Fels Naptha Soap, Zote, or Ivory), no soap bar needed for dipes because less oil base is better.

Use 1 to 2tbs for a regular load of laundry. A bit more if you're using a top loader, but I think the amounts are more of an adjust as needed thing.

Ami

[timneh_mom]

I've got all the stuff to do it, even the essential oil I want to use in it! But I haven't made it yet. I have quite a lot of the premade stuff I need to use up.

But I do make my own dishwasher detergent. I have to scrub the dishes well but it's pretty nice

[velochic]

This is the recipe that my father uses. I copied it from the internet a long time ago... probably 15 years ago. I've never made it myself because lye is so caustic and dad enjoys making soap, so we let him do the "dirty work". He has made soap like this for nearly 70 years, although he used to use wood ash instead of the lye. I think he buys the lye at the hardware store. I grate it into a powder to use in the wash. Dd, who has eczema, uses it in the bath and loves it, as dad adds rose hip oil to hers:

6 lbs melted fat
1 can lye
2 1/2 pints water

Add lye to water and dissolve. When container which holds the lye water is warm, add the fat and stir until cool. Pour into a cloth lined box, or a box that has been dipped in cold water, and cover. Cut soap into squares when set.