Thursday, August 6, 2009

Homemade Laundry Soap for .87 Cents!



I have been using this laundry soap for over three months now before I shared it with you so I was sure that I liked it and that it was something that would actually work for my dirty family.

But I am so sure now that you will LOVE this Homemade Laundry Soap and like I you will never go back to paying for laundry soap in the store again.

Don't think that it will be complicated to make either, if you can make a box of Kraft Macaroni and Cheese you can make this soap.


The recipe is simple:

1 bar of Ivory soap

4 cups water

1 cup Arm & Hammer Washing Soda

1/2 cup 20 Mule Team Borax

3 gallons warm water

Boil 4 cups of water. While waiting for the water to boil shred one bar of Ivory soap. Once water is boiling slowly ad the shredded soap and stir until it is all melted and you have a soapy soup. While the soap is melting in the boiling water ad the borax and washing soda to the bottom of your large tub or bucket. Then add 3 gallons of water and stir until mixed. Once the soap is melted in the boiling water and you have soapy soup ad that to the 3 gallon mixture and stir with your spoon.

At this point you can just cover it and let it sit 24 hours. Or I found out it is easier to put in to containers at this step. I use 4 containers that I bought at Walmart for $2.79 in the automotive section that are used to recycle oil and an oil filter for a car. (see picture) You can use any container or just reuse an oil laundry soap container. I liked these better because there are two openings one large and one small. Either way wait 24 hours before you use the soap. After 24 hours the soap will be kind of jelled and I just shake my container a bit to loosen it up and then add 1 cup to a load of wash.


This is a picture of all of the items I use to make the Home Made Laundry Soap.



This is a picture of the bar soap shredded up.


This is a picture of the Soapy Soup.


This is a picture of the SafeCycle jug that I bought at Walmart in the Automotive department.


This is a picture of the Laundry Soap all made in the tub.

F.A.Q.

Use a cheese grader or a food processor to shred up the bar of soap.
You can find the Arm & Hammer Washing Soda and the 20 Mule Team Borax in the Laundry Soap isle of most grocery stores. I found the Borax once in a Super Walmart but my regular Walmart does not carry it.

It is easy and not very time consuming to make, I take longer cooking dinner than making this soap.

You will also need a pot big enough to boil 4 cups of water, a big long handle spoon, and some type of big container to mix it all in like a 5 gallon bucket or a huge Rubbermaid tub that I had in the house already, but what ever container you choose make sure it has a lid.

If you want you can use another brand of bar soap if you want I just chose Ivory because my kids have sensitive skin and I like the price and the smell.

I have used the soap in two different front loader energy saver washing machines and it worked fine. I used 1/2 of a cup instead of a whole cup.

THE COST:

I spent about $7.00 for all of the stuff to make Home Made Laundry Soap.
I used to spend about $13.00 every two weeks for a huge container of All.

One box of Borax will make 12 batches and cost $2.89
One box of Washing Soda makes 6 batches $1.89
Six bars of Soap makes 6 batches and cost $1.89

Total $6.67

That is $.87 each batch and that last me a about 3 weeks in comparison to the $13.00 every two weeks I am SAVING BIG GREEN!


HOW WELL DOES IT WORK?

Like I said I used it for several months before I decided to share the recipe just to be sure I liked it. I LOVE IT! It is better than the All that I was buying, my clothes are just as clean but I think that the smell better. I also have a few restaurant clothes that I could never get the restaurant smell out of and this soap knocked that stink right out! I still use a pre-stain treatment like I used to. I love this soap and I will never buy Laundry Soap AGAIN!

9 comments:

  1. I use the same (almost I use a diff looking borax) ingredients but make powdered. The diff is yours makes a lot more! Have been doing this for about one year and I save well. Therefore, you must save a mother load! Well done!

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  2. Thanks Sue, The Borax box has changed since I did this post, now it is mostly white.

    I do save a "mother load" as you said, really this is one of the number one ways I save at our house. It is so nice to never have to buy the stuff ever again!

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  3. I just bought some borax at Target and am on my way home to whip up a batch of laundry detergent! One question though, I was going to make a Dr. Bronners based laundry soap and I read that it fades clothes. Have you found that this recipe fades dark clothing at all? Most of our clothes are dark colors!

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  4. That is a great question. I have been using this laundry soap for several years. Never have I seen any difference in my dark clothes. I get deals on store bought laundry soap quite often so I use that because I can get it Free or cheap and there is not any difference in dark color fading than with this homemade soap. Putting darks on the line in the sun will fade them, or you can try washing some inside out. The more you wash the more color you will loose out of any piece of clothing.

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  5. I just made my first batch and can't wait to try it out tomorrow. I bought all of my ingredients and hard supplies at our local Ace Hardware store. I know I paid more than Wal Mart prices, but I'd rather pay 2x there then give Sam any of my money. I bought a scrap PVC pipe for my stir stick. All the reviews sure make it sound like this will be a great addition to the house!

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    Replies
    1. I know you will love it. Then you will wonder why you ever paid so much money for laundry soap before!

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  6. Can you use this laundry soap in a high efficiency washer?

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  7. Yes you can use it in an HE washer! Although each model may differ but I have had several readers use this int their HE washer and love the results!

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  8. I have a problem with this recipe...
    I can atest from experience, that this is a great recipe, that it cleaned my clothes better than anything else I ever tried in the last 25 years, & that IT WILL save you a ton of money...
    My problem with this recipe is, the Borax makes my wife itch BIG TIME.
    This is the ONLY problem I have with this....so I am looking for a recipe that is easy on the budget, cleans clothes beyond belief, AND, and does NOT contain borax....

    If you do not have any problems with Borax(if it does not make you itch), Then this is the "perfect" solution to laundry soap.

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for the great comments, I always appreciate them. This is a family blog, and some folks seem to forget that so I had to ad word verification to keep spam at bay and moderate all comments to remove adult content that is unwelcome on my blog. Thanks for your understanding.