Friday, September 02, 2011

Homemade Laundry Soap

While poking around Pinterest today I came across an awesome tutorial on how to make homemade laundry soap. Hmmm......interesting, I thought. How could I not try this?! After reading all the comments after her tutorial I went down to Superstore and picked up a box of Borax and a box of Washing Soda....seriously I have never heard of Washing Soda before but yeah it's there in the laundry aisle.


To make this home made laundry soap you'll need the following

  • 1 cup Borax
  • 1 cup Washing Soda
  • 1 bar of soap (I used Ivory)
  • 4 litres hot water
  • 4 litres cold water
  • big pot
  • funnel
  • big pail (or something that will hold 8 litres of water)
  • Containers to store the finish product in (2 - Milk Jugs should fit it)

This is how I did it:

1. Put 4 litres of hot water into pot on stove, set on high.
2. Grate your bar of soap and add it to your pot of hot water






3. Once the soap has melted, add 1 cup Borax and 1 cup Washing Soda and bring to a boil.  This took about 5 minutes or so.


4. After it's come to a boil, carefully pour it into a bigger container and add 4 litres of cold water and stir.



5. When slightly cooled pour into containers. A funnel helps with this part.

Once this cools it will coagulate!! It gets thick like gelatin. That is ok.

This is how much I got out of one batch. 


When using it in your washing machine you only need 1/2 cup. I have a front load washer...which takes "special" detergent. Apparently because it does not bubble it is safe for front load washing machines. If I do find a problem I will be sure to update.

I am so amazed right now.  So my son (who would kill me if he was older and could read) soaks through his pull-ups at night and it takes about 2 rounds in the washer before the smell comes out of his sheets. I just went to throw the first load of clothes I washed with this in the dryer and had to check if his sheet still smelled. Nopa..nothing...no pee smell at all!! And only one wash!! YAHOOO!! (Sorry for some reason I thought I had to share that!)

This is going to end up saving us a ton of money.  The laundry soap we usually buy is $8.99 for 64 loads. 

The Borax cost $5.99 and the Washing Soda was $5.69 and the bar of soap...lets say $1.00. That's it. I'll round up the numbers, so $13.00 for I don't even know how many loads of laundry...over 600 for sure. Wahoo!!  I would love to hear your comments on this.

Thanks again to Erin @ Why Not Sew for posting this great tutorial!!


Up Next.......Homemade Fabric Softener!!!

12 comments:

  1. You never cease to amaze me. I love you for many reasons.. and one of them, is that you will go to great lengths to try new things. And those things are always something I would NEVER ever think of. By the way.. I'm so going to want to try a little jar!
    Tara

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks Tara...just remind me next time you're over. You're going to be amazed!!

    ReplyDelete
  3. My son has very bad eczema and even no perfume no dye laundry soap was to harsh. I have been making my own laundry soap but use Fels-naptha bar laundry soap, 2 cups Borax, and 2 cups washing soda and it makes 5 gals of soap. It is amazing how fast his eczema has gotten better.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I LOVE making my own laundry soap! I will never go back to paying a small fortune for store bought! Thanks for sharing @ Haute Stuff Thursday!!!
    Next we need to figure out homemade dryer sheets...I have a couple ideas but have not wanted to test them on my clothes-maybe I will test them on my hubby's-hahaha.
    XOXO,
    Tasha

    ReplyDelete
  5. I just pinned recipes for homemade laundry detergent this past weekend! I can't wait to try it out!

    Wendy
    www.designedtodwell.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
  6. Thanks for the comments guys. I can honestly say this is the best laundry detergent ever. And it's so quick, easy, and cheap to make!

    ReplyDelete
  7. I am so excited to try this!! I was wondering if you had ever added something like essence of lavender or something like it, to give it a nice smell?
    Mary-Jo

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That's a great idea! I haven't added an essential oils but I did make one batch with Sunlight soap. It smelled very fresh, but honestly after the clothes came out of the dryer I couldn't smell it anymore. I'll have to try this on my next batch. Let me know if you do make it, I'd love to hear how it turns out!

      Cheers!

      Sarah

      Delete
    2. i use dove, i like ivory but it gets too lumpy and separates from the water. dove doesn't. plus its a quarter moisterizer. dove works the best for me, but i am eager to try out sunlight bar soap, located in the laundry isle. Also this way of making it is the best way, 2 gallons at a time, i thought i needed a bigger pot but now that read more i guess i just need a big pail to mix it all in, cuz i was only making one gallon at a time. THANKS!

      Delete
  8. Where do you buy Washing Soda?

    ReplyDelete
  9. You can find Washing Soda in the laundry aisle, usually beside the Borax. I'm not updating this website anymore please come and check out my new website ! www.creatingamazing.com

    ReplyDelete
  10. thank you I will def... try this..

    ReplyDelete