A Little of this and that.....

Saturday, September 10, 2011

How to Make Your Own Laundry Soap

I know that there have been many posts recently showing how to make your own laundry washing soap for your clothes.  Well a few weeks ago I decided that I would try my hand at making laundry soap of all things!  My 3 sisters responses were almost the same.  They all said " Why?" 

Well I thought it might be fun to try it.  I have also been very sensitive to chemicals for most of my life and it seems that lately it is getting to be a little more of a problem. I had also heard it is much less expensive and better for your plumbing to use more "filler free" products  My daughter is always telling me to think about the planet and try to be greener so that is one of the reasons I thought I would try it too.

It was really easy and simple to make.  It also only took 3 simple ingredients to make!  It was pretty cheap too!  All you need is Washing Soda, Borax and Fels Naptha or Ivory soap.  I quadrupled the following recipe and it turned out great.  The only thing I would change is that I would switch to Zote soap next time just because I would like to make pretty pink soap instead of the yellow soap.  I know!  What is with me and pink?  You can also add in some pure lavender oil or any other pure essential oil that you like to make it smell even better.  I was also told that to make it even stronger you could add in some Oxy Clean.  But here is the simple basic recipe that I used:

1/2 cup Arm and Hammer Washing Soda
1cup Fels Naptha or Ivory soap (grated finely)
1/2 cup 20 Mule Team Borax 










The most tedious part is grating the Fels Naptha soap.  I used an old metal grater and had no problem at all.  It was a little larger pieces then I wanted so I then put it in a small old food processor that I wasn't using anymore.  That worked out great!  Mix all the ingredients and stir well.  Put your new laundry soap in a pretty container with a lid.  For lightly soiled loads I use 1 TBS and for heavily soiled loads I use 2 TBS.


















Of course I needed an antique silver scoop to put in my container with my laundry soap.  I found this beautiful one on E-Bay.  I know I don't need that big of a scoop since you only use 1 to 2 TBS. but I just thought this would look cute in the container.










11 comments:

Honey at 2805 said...

It never occurred to me to make soap. Thanks for the information!

Miss Char said...

I made this last week and I'm loving it. My container looks very much like the one you have displayed. I used an old silver tablespoon for my scoop. I didn't measure anything, just poured in the full box of Borax, Washing Soda and three bars of ivory grated. I think next time I might add at least one more bar of ivory since these were not large bars. Anyway....no more liquid detergents for me.

cindy-stitches-n-stuff.blogspot.com said...

Your bottle of soap is so cool. My e-mail wouldn't send. I cindy@stitches-n-stuff. You won my contest. Yeppy! I need your address so that I can send you you gift. cindygeilmann@hotmail.com

big hugs
cindy@stitches

Audrey said...

Hey there! You're link was right before mine on nifty thrifty so I thought I'd stop on by. Love the container for your soap...I use the same ones for my flours in the kitchen. Great minds think alike!
www.oneshoeparenting.blogspot.com

Unknown said...

Okay, trying this again...lol. Your soap is lovely. Now, on to thank you for that wonderful shoe block....amazing and the spider is really a great addition to the block! Thanks

Little Birdie Blessings said...

I have been wanting to try this. Seems hard to believe that 2 Tbsp. can wash a load of laundry. Thanks for the idea. I love to sew and make aprons as well, although mine aren't quite as fancy as yours. Perhaps you're going to inspire me with your lovely blog and ideas. ~ Abby

Cindy Adkins said...

Oh wow, this was super-helpful!!! Thanks so much!! I'm your newest follower!

XO
Cindy

The Polka Dot Closet said...

Good for you, I heard that grating the bar of soap was the hardest, I had read somewhere that someone put it in some kind of a food processor, of course i don't own one LOL! I have been wanting to try this

Carol

Anonymous said...

I see you tried making the laundry soap! Good for you! I just last week had to make some more - I love using the Zote soap bar to make a pretty pink soap.

bee blessed
mary

Little Birdie Blessings said...

I really want to try this laundry soap. I have all the ingredients, just need to do it. Thanks for visiting my blog and leaving a kind comment. ~ Abby

Unknown said...

My washing machine
"warm" water is rather cool - will this affect the outcome???