Homemade Laundry Soap

[Squinch]

You all doing this? I can't remember if I have seen a thread on this, but I'm surprised if it hasn't been covered here.

In case it hasn't, here's my recipe.

In an old laundry soap bottle (1 gallon type) put:

3 Tbsp of Borax

3 Tbsp of Washing Powder (you get it in the laundry aisle. It looks like a giant box of Arm and Hammer baking soda, but it's called washing powder)

3 Tbsp of Dawn

Put them in with about 2 cups of very hot water, swish it around to melt and mix the components. Let it cool a little, fill up the bottle with water.

It costs a couple of cents for every gallon. You need to shake it each time you use it, but it works as well as other laundry detergents I've used. You can put essential oils into it for scent if you like.

[pscot]

1. Let us sing of Grandma's lye soap

[Squinch]

2. "had an aversion to scrubbing their ears, Grandma scrubbed them with her lye soap

and they haven't heard a word in years"

[Curmudgeoness]

3. I have seen this, sort of.

But instead of Dawn, they used Fels Naptha soap, grated or shaved. But the recipe was a little complicated to get it all mixed and you had to cook it to melt the soap. I think that it ended up as a gel/cream. Seemed like too much trouble for me, but yours sounds do-able.

I have also seen recipes where they added baking soda as a deodorizer, but I don't know if that is necessary of not. I have not tried any of these recipes.

[Squinch]

4. I've seen those with the Fels Naptha too, but they do seem to complicated.

This one takes a minute or two to mix up a gallon.

The washing powder is like a concentrated baking soda, so it covers the deodorizing.

[Melissa G]

5. How is it with HE washers?

Does the recipe need modification?

[Squinch]

7. That, I don't know. Maybe mix up a small batch and test it?

[Melissa G]

9. Okay. Thanks. Anyone else here

tried it out already?

[Squinch]

14. Melissa, since this thread has gotten a little stale, you might miss this: downthread Cally just

posted a laundry soap recipe for HE washers.

[Melissa G]

15. Thanks for letting me know!

[laundry_queen]

10. I think that's where the Fels Naptha vs Dawn comes in

I had a front loader and was told not to use Dawn because of the bubbles but I still occasionally put in a few drops for greasy loads. So when I made my detergent, I used Sunlight laundry soap bars shredded (can't get Fels Naptha here in Canada). It worked okay, but I lived in a place with super hard water, so would have to add water softener for the detergent to work (by super hard, I mean most places with 'normal' water are a '5', hard water is a '10', very hard water was '15' and our town rated 20. My current town rates a 7.) I haven't tried it yet in my new place...I keep meaning to, I sure could use the savings! But yeah, the laundry soap generates less 'foam' than Dawn does, so I would think it's more suitable for HE washers.

[Melissa G]

11. Thanks! I'll try it!

I have lots of laundry to do!

[LeftyMom]

23. I don't know about the liquid version,

but I've done the other recipe (the one that's usually Fels Naptha) with Kirk's castile and it works fine in an HE washer. I'd guess the Dawn-based one wouldn't, because that stuff foams up like mad. You'd need a soap that doesn't bubble much.

[sendero]

20. My wife..

.... makes that sort of laundry soap. Washing soda, Fels naptha based. Works fine. Occasionally she'll add a bit of essential oil for fragrance.

[noamnety]

6. I do the fels-naptha one

I think I've been using it about 3 years now. You do have to dump it in a large pot and turn on the stove, but it's no more work than making a super easy dinner one night - and if you look at the cost savings over a year vs. the time to make it, it's better pay per hour than my regular job.

[Squinch]

8. Right? Tide is priced like some kind of rare metal!

[noamnety]

12. It made me much more aware

of how much a product cost is the packaging, advertising and distribution as opposed to the cost of the ingredients.

Unfortunately, the more frugal I get, the less I enjoy eating out in restaurants. I can't help calculating that the $20 meal I just ate would have cost me $3 to make at home.

[cally]

13. I make a simple powder detergent for HE

works well and is much cheaper

1 bar: fels naptha or other laundry soap bar (grate)--I use a food processor
2 cups washing soda
2 cups borax

I use just two tbsp. of this per load

[Melissa G]

16. Excellent!

Thanks!

[Kennah]

17. So is washing soda different from washing powder?

[laundry_queen]

18. I just made a huge batch

I kept it to dry ingredients instead of cooking it to make a liquid detergent (I don't know how you'd cook such a large batch unless you have a giant stock pot).

I put in (got this recipe on pinterest)
4lbs of Borax
4lbs of baking soda
4lbs of washing soda
2 bars of grated Fels Naptha (you could use zote or another laundry bar)
1 container of OxyClean (this is optional in the recipe, but I have small children and we have a lot of stains and I find a little bit of oxyclean means using a lot less detergent in the long run - and I got it on sale)
1 container of purex crystals (clearly optional, I have issues with needing my laundry to smell nice and last time I tried essential oils, it did not work out well).

I mixed everything in a small Rubbermaid container then put it in empty Purex Crystal containers - the lids have measurements on them so I can measure my detergent without a separate scoop.

According to the pinterest link, this should make enough for approx. 300+ loads and needs 1-2 tbsp. per load. I spent more than I wanted to putting it together. I've always wanted to try Fels Naptha to see if it's better than the only laundry bars I can get locally (which suck) but had to order it online which boosted the cost, and I couldn't find washing soda anywhere, which was shocking to me - I used to see it everywhere. I just ordered it online w/free shipping from a place I was putting an order in for other stuff anyway. The whole batch works out to slightly cheaper per load than the absolute bottom of the line dirt-cheap detergent (which I never buy because it doesn't work well anyway). Compared to the stuff I normally buy, it's about half price. More if you count that I usually use oxyclean on top of the detergent anyway.

We'll see how it cleans. I'm super picky so this is the big test! I have a dirty load in right now!
BTW - I did such a big batch because I have 4 kids and do about 10 loads per week and didn't want to be constantly mixing the stuff. Besides, it was convenient to just dump the boxes of stuff in.
Oh, and I have a front loader so we'll see if this is HE friendly - it's supposed to be.

ETA photo:

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[Squinch]

19. I'm interested to know how the dry works. Keep us posted!

[sendero]

21. We use a similar concoction...

.... even in our front-loader. Works fine.

[sendero]

22. laundry queen.....

... indeed!

[LeftyMom]

24. BTW Washing Soda is just soda ash. It's cheaper if you buy it at the pool supply shop.

I'm always confused by why so few of the frugal DIY detergent recipes point this out. Aside from the higher cost, washing soda is a bit difficult to find, but every store with a pool supply section has soda ash.

[Squinch]

25. I didn't point it out because I didn't know it. Good to know.

[Kaleva]

26. Thanks for the info!

[IrishAyes]

27. Fantastic!