Assuming an average gallon of commercial laundry detergent runs around $8, and one gallon of home-made laundry soap runs around 75 cents...it's no tough decision to make!
I heartily recommend The Hillbilly Housewife web site to find the formula for laundry soap and many other home-made household mixtures. This is her recipe for laundry soap, and I totally, heartily recommend you give it a try!
Homemade Laundry Soap
Ingredients:
1 bar Fels Naptha soap, shaved (or chopped into tiny bits) (Note: I've also used the pink "Zote" soap, you can use pretty much any soap you like..."Ivory" has been used, same for a good castile soap.)
4 cups hot water to melt soap
3 gallons of hot water
1 cup of Borax
2 cups of Washing Soda
1 cup of Baking Soda
1 large container (I used a 5 gallon bucket)
Directions:
- Grate/shave/chop soap into sauce pan.
- Add 4 cups hot water to pan. Simmer on low until soap melts completely into water.
- Add Borax, Washing Soda, and Baking Soda to the soap mixture. Simmer on low until it dissolves. You may have to add water if it doesn't dissolve.
- Add 3 gallons of hot water to the bucket. Then add the soap mixture to the hot water, mix until completely dissolved.
- Let cool overnight. It will turn into a thick gel.
- Use 1 cup of soap per load of laundry
I store this soap in gallon milk jugs or repurpose old laundry soap containers, but pretty much anything covered can be used. Over time the soap will gel up, but it's easy enough to break it apart with a spatula, and add more water to get it to the consistency you prefer. If it's too gel-like, it may not dissolve in the wash and you'll end up with clumps, especially if you wash in cold water.
You can find the Borax and Washing Soda in the laundry soap aisle, the baking soda in the baking aisle, and I've found the Fels Naptha (which has a lovely citronella scent) on the bottom shelf in the bath soap aisle.
Some people also add liquid bluing to the mix, but I haven't tried that yet.
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Another integral part of laundry is the Fabric Softener! Once I bought a box of fabric softener sheets, and made the mistake of putting them in the same bag as a loaf of bread. By the time I got home, the entire loaf of bread had absorbed the fragrance and was inedible! Something that stinky can't really be good for you I'd think. Plus, of course, the expense and the zillions of fabric softener sheets that end up in the landfill.
Didn't take but a few seconds of research to find a GREAT home-made fabric softener recipe. It's so simple, so cheap, and so easy, I'm almost ashamed it took me so long to see the light.
Amusingly, I found this on Food.com!
Homemade Fabric Softener
Ingredients:
1 cup baking soda
6 cups distilled white vinegar
8 cups water
10-15 drops essential oil (Optional, fragrance of your choice. I don't bother, personally)
Directions:
- You will need a one gallon container (I use a clean milk jug with lid)
- Add baking soda into the empty container
- Add 1 cup of the water
- SLOWLY add vinegar to the bottle. Be prepared for major fizz-action! Just add the vinegar slowly, giving time for the fizz to settle down.
- Add the rest of the water, swirling to stir. The baking soda may settle to the bottom, so I use a long dowel to stir the bottom.
- Add the essential oil if you wish.
Use:
Add 1 cup to your final rinse cycle for each load.
I've found this makes THE softest, most wonderful clean clothes I've ever experienced! Almost pornographic in its softness!! And for mere pennies a batch, I'll never go back to the chemical-based commercial products!
This all takes some time, and then there's the storage issue of the laundry soap (you'll end up with around 5 gallons of soap). But it's worth it in my opinion! Give it a try and share with how it works out for you!
Excuse me, I have to go add the fabric softener to the wash. Until next time!
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