My Homemade Laundry Detergent

Hello All and Sundry;

A number of months ago, I tried my hand at making homemade laundry soap. I had been concerned about all the excess packaging, chemicals, artificial scents and needless expense of laundry detergent and wanted an alternative. So.... I looked about on the internets and found that there are STILL many people who make their own laundry soap. I was a bit skeptical at first, but since the cost to do so was miniscule, and it was remarkably easy I figured it couldn't hurt to try.

Needless to say, I was wonderfully pleased with the result! The experience itself was fantastic in that making the soap filled the house with a wonderful smell that is indescriblable (providing you use Naptha Soap). The cost per load is a fraction of what commercial soap costs, but the real test is the results! Our clothes come out just a clean and without all the chemically false smells of "summer rain, springtime fresh, or lavender vanilla's" all of which never really smell real.

So, here is the recipe and have a go at it, you will not be disappointed .

Home Made Laundry Soap

SOURCE: http://www.thefamilyhomestead.com/laundrysoap.htm
CATEGORIES: Household Cleaning
MAKES: 64 loads

INGREDIENTS:

1/3 bar Fels Naptha or other type of soap, (available in most supermarkets in the laundry area.)
1/2 cup washing soda
1/2 cup borax powder
~You will also need a small bucket, about 2 gallon size~

METHOD:

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 1 gallon plus 6 cups of water and stir. Let the soap sit for about 24 hours and it will gel. You use ½ cup per load.

Optional: If you want your soap to have some sort of scent you can scent this with ½ to 1 oz. of essential oil or fragrance oil of your choice. My favorite scent is orange essential oil.

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Anthony Fasolo on February 9, 2010 at 9:45am

Hi Laura;

Yes it does work with cold water, but what I do is a begin filling the machine with a little hot water first to help it dissolve a little better. It does congeal quite a bit and the hot water helps it to dissolve. Then I fill her up with cold water and put the clothes in.

I haven't had to add any boosters, but there isn't any reason why you couldn't if you choose too. Borax and Washing Soda are sometimes used as boosters by people and they are two of the three ingredients for the soap. I've never used Oxyclean so all I can say is you might want to experiment.

As for fabric softener, I stopped using it roughly the same time I began using the homemade laundry soap. In place I've been using about a half cup of distilled vinegar in my fabric softener in place of it, and the clothes come out just as soft and with out that gooey feeling that fabric softener tends to build up over time. If you've been using commercial fabric softener it may take a few washes with out it to wash it from your clothes. I recently had a little bit of commercial laundery soap that I through in because I just wanted to get rid of it and I was astounded at how strong the artificial scent was! After having not used it for some time, I hadn't realized how desensitized I had been to artificial scents in products. Not only are they super strong, they also smell very artificial, but I never realized it until going for a long time not using them.

I hope this helps!

Peace,

Anthony

Permalink Reply by Laura Suda on February 11, 2010 at 9:37am

Thank you for the tips - very useful. I have another recipe for you and it uses most of the same ingredients:

Recipe for Homemade Dishwasher Detergent

Mix together 1 cup washing soda, 1 cup borax, 1/2 cup salt, and 1/2 cup citric acid. Store tightly covered in a Mason Jar (I used a Planter's Peanuts jar). Use one tablespoon per load. Add vinegar to the rinse dispenser for the best results.
Your environmentally friendly dishwasher detergent is going to have four main ingredients:
Washing Soda - This stuff has been around forever. It is a natural substance, made from salt and limestone.Scientifically it is known as sodium carbonate. It cuts grease on anything and can be used for many (if not most) of the cleaning projects in your home. Arm and Hammer puts it out in the United States. If you can't find it at your grocers you can find it on Amazon and other places online.
Borax - Borax occurs naturally in the environment and can be mined as well as created in a lab. It is toxic in concentrated amounts, and you should keep it out of the reach of children. You can find it by the laundry detergent; Borateem is one brand.
Kosher Salt - Kosher salt is a pure salt. I use it for cooking because the food tastes cleaner.
Citric acid - You can buy food grade citric acid like Fruit Fresh or just use unsweetened lemonade packets.
This formula will cut grease on your dishes. You will get a better result if you fill the rinse agent reservoir in your dishwasher with distilled white vinegar. It will leave your dishes grease free, shiny, and it isn't at all hard on your vintage and antique items. But the major benefit goes to your wallet. It cost less than a penny a load to make, or 50 loads of dishes for just 50 cents!

I'm looking forward to trying this out - the price can't be beat!

Permalink Reply by Anthony Fasolo on February 11, 2010 at 6:55pm

I recently came across this recipe and have been wanting to try it out, I just have to get a hold of some citric acid. I've been using distilled vinegar in place of Wet/Dry for almost a year now and haven't looked back. I think it makes the dishes even more clear than the wet/dry and it's so cheap it's almost obscene.

Permalink Reply by John Boutet on February 7, 2010 at 6:56pm

I was curious about Fels-Naphta soap and found this site that has a lot of information about it and alternate soaps for making laundry detergent: http://www.dld123.com/q&a/index.php?cid=61
I'm not to sure that the toxic and environmental issues are severe enough to avoid using Fels-Naphta soap but it is information worth knowing. It may be no worse than what we have been using for years in commercial laundry detergents. The comments that follow this article also give a lot of other options, opinions and sources for soaps.