Feed on
Posts
Comments
«
»

make your own laundry soap

Feb 5th, 2011 by

Don’t be scared. The Damsel isn’t going to force you to make soap out of lard and ashes like in the olden days. Come on, it won’t be so bad.

The Damsel got this recipe from Christy Monson, a writing friend. (Contact info below) The Damsel would like to say that Christy is a tidy person with exceptionally clean clothes. In case you were wondering.

Gather:

1 bar Fels Naptha soap

1 Cup Washing Soda

1 Cup Borax

A kettle, a grater, a long spoon, a 5 gallon bucket

Grate the soap into a kettle. You’ll feel strange grating not-food, but press forward.  Little chunkies are okay.

Add 10 cups water and heat it until the soap melts.

Add washing soda and Borax. Stir until it is dissolved. Remove from the heat.

Go thou, and get the 5 gallon bucket. Pour six cups of hot water into the bucket, then the soap mixture, and stir. Now lug the thing to the Place Your Washing Machine Lives.

Add 2 gallons of water and stir. Let the soap sit for about 24 hours and it will gel.

Use 1/2 – 1 cup for each wash load. You’ll need to stir it before each use since it congeals. Don’t fear the gooberyness.

This laundry soap smells nice (“Clean” and “Soapy”) this way, but you can add 2 oz of essential oil to the soap if you want. Put the fragrance in after the mixture is completely cooled. The soap is low sudsing, so it should be safe for use in front loaders. Or even washboards.

Why in the world would you make your own laundry soap? Well, it’s cheap. $2-3.00 for each 5 gallon bucket, and that’s a lot of laundry soap. Plus, you know exactly what’s in it. No dyes, no perfumes except what you might add yourself. And you have the satisfaction of knowing how to do something yourself that’s actually pretty important.

You can find Christy Monson:
Every Saturday at Prophets in Person for unique stories about the lives of pioneer prophets.
Daily at Connections for a quick daily thought or scripture to keep your day positive and peaceful.
Every Monday at Paper and Parchment for tips and quirky insights into the life of a crazy writer.

Tags:

Posted in cleaning, clothing

  • Pingback: Tweets that mention Old School – Self Reliance 101 » Blog Archive » make your own laundry soap -- Topsy.com

  • http://www.jahaws.blogspot.com Adrienne

    I love making laundry soap. I'm off to make some right now actually…

    • the_damsel

      Yay! Do you make yours the same way?

  • Christy Monson

    I forgot to tell everyone that you can get the supplies at Macey's. I don't know about other grocery stores. Christy

    • http://www.mandysrecipebox.blogspot.com Mandy

      Winco has it all as well. That's where I buy my ingredients.

      • Christy Monson

        That's great to know.

  • Linda Ford

    I made mine all the time till we came to Mongolia. We can't get everything here. I did add some oxy to the whites sometimes. the best part is you can have a years supply laundry soap for under $20.00.

    • the_damsel

      I've been meaning to do a post on this ever since you sent me the recipe way long ago! Thank you.

  • http://www.pitterlepostings.blogspot.com Patty ann

    OK, I am so going to try this one. I am tired of paying high prices for something that doesn't even do a good job!!

  • Marcia

    wonder if they have these ingredients in the Dominican Republic?? I'd love to try it!

  • http://joyismygoal.blogspot.com/ marcia vigil

    this is way cool I might actually try it

    • the_damsel

      do it do it do it do it (and then tell me what happens)

  • http://joyismygoal.blogspot.com/ marciavigil

    Fabric softener?

    • Christy Monson

      Sometimes I use fabric softener and sometimes I don't. I think the soap smells good on its own.

  • http://www.idevourkidbooks.blogsopt.com Lois D. Brown

    I've done several batches of this already, except I don't heat it up to dissolve soap. I just stir every so often and within an hour, it has dissolved all by itself. One tip: My husband has a long attachment to his drill that stirs paint. I use that in the five gallon bucket and stir for a while. It does a great job of stirring and I've found that when I use that, I don't have to stir it each time.

  • http://iamjustlu.com Lorene

    I've seen making your own powdered laundry soap, but never gel gooberyness. I think I might prefer the gel… And knowing I can get the supplies at Macey's means I might actually get to try this! Thanks for sharing!

  • Melissa

    my DDs just made this last week at a church activity. I soaked something in it…something moldy and still have not managed to get it clean…but I am scared to use the homemade mixture in my HE washer. Is it really ok????

    • the_damsel

      Since it is low suds, I don't see why not. I've heard of many people doing so with no problems.

    • sockmommy

      I use homemade laundry soap all of the time. I have an HE machine, a front loader even. It works just fine. Like the damsel says, it's low suds so it is even preferable. Not to mention cheap.

    • Christy Monson

      It works great in my new washer. I love it.

  • http://ysalife.blogspot.com Jane of all trades

    I love making my own laundry soap My friend and I have a bucket that we marked 3 gallons and the recipe we use on, we keep everything we need to make it in the bucket (grater, small pan, stir stick ect..)and pass it back and forth when we need more. We keep the soap in empty store bought laundry soap containers ( the ones with a spout won't work well). I have never had a problem with my clothes not coming clean, I would even say that home made works better.

    • the_damsel

      Great idea on sharing the tools!

    • Christy Monson

      I agree home made works just as well or better for me.

  • http://searchingforsustenance.blogspot.com Nicole Rivera

    I just watched No Impact Man this morning and he made his own laundry detergent followed by stomping around in the bathtub with his family to actually DO the laundry! He also showed three ingredients, but he used a different soap and he DIDN'T GIVE ME THE RECIPE! As usual, The Damsel has come to my rescue! AWESOME! Thank you! :)

  • http://www.ithoughtiknewmama.com IThoughtIKnewMama

    Just stumbled you!

  • http://www.TheBudgetDiet.com/cinch-my-new-years-diet-lets-hope-it-really-is-a-cinch Kristl Story

    Will this work in a high efficiency washer?

  • sockmommy

    As I alluded to above :O) I love the homemade laundry soap. You don't have to use Fels Naptha either. I couldn't find any and found another recipe that used Ivory (the original kind). It works great. The clothes do not have any smell at all when they come out of the washer though, so I always add a little fabric softener to the washer to give it some "pretty." Now a homemade fabric softener would be a nice trick!
    I always used the powered recipe. The gel would glop into the automatic dispenser and sometimes clog it up, ending up with a load of wash without any soap at all. The powder works great and eliminates a couple of steps too :)

  • http://twitter.com/BeTheChangeBook @BeTheChangeBook

    Have been looking for a great recipe for laundry soap … will have to try this and see how it goes!

  • http://fnej422nc.com Tu Hartwick

    I was examining some of your posts on this site and I think this website is real instructive! Keep on posting .

  • http://incandescentblueflame.blogspot.com/ Kim Winson

    Hello!
    I hopped to this post from Kludgy Mom’s Stumbleupon thread at BlogFrog.

    I’ve made the powdered version of this soap for the past few months and I love it! I got my recipe from a different blog but yours is exactly the same (sans the water and cooking it down).

    Cheers,
    Kim

  • Anonymous

    Great idea! Thanks for sharing this..That’s very interesting topic.

    Cheers,
    DannyLLafrance
    http://www.SimpleSoapMakingGuide.com