Laundry Detergent

[Arrowwind]

As the cruch comes upon our society, I have sought many alternative options for managing a household. I came upon this one about two years ago and I recommend it having used it for 2 years.. With a $20 investment you can stash enough supplies to make laundry soap for many years... It will be a good trade item also and my neighbor has a little cottage industry making this stuff for people in our community. She charges $5 a gallon that makes for what she claims is 90 loads.. I use more than she does... a gallon gets me about 50. Its not a perfect product but pretty good.. and you can't beat the price! I use it for all our household laundry needs.. the down side... every few months I subject our whites to a wash with bleach.

Laundry Soap

By Crystal Miller

Making your own laundry soap is very easy! No longer do you need to rely on store bought detergents. With a few ingredients on hand you will be able to make batch after batch of laundry soap. The cost savings by doing this is incredible!

~If after reading through this you have a question PLEASE read the "Questions Answered" at the bottom of this page. I am no longer able to answer questions about the laundry soap via email. Thank you! Crystal http://www.natmedtalk.com/images/smilies/icon_smile.gif

What Ingredients Do You Need?

You will need 3 basic ingredients; a soap of some sort, washing soda and borax.

The Soap: The most typical type of soap to use is Fels Naptha. It is an old-fashioned type of soap usually found in the laundry aisle. The other options for soap are Ivory or another brand called, Zote. Any of these will work. I use my own homemade soap and find it works quite well and I do have this for sale in my Country Store. If you use Ivory or your own homemade soap you will need to use the whole bar.

Washing Soda: This is not to be confused with baking soda. They are not the same thing. Washing soda is sodium carbonate or soda ash (baking soda is sodium bicarbonate). It is a white powder. Its purpose is to help remove dirt and orders. The brand to look for is Arm & Hammer Washing Soda. I find it in the laundry section of my grocery store. Many people have a hard time finding this locally. I know you can purchase it on-line, even through Amazon.com. I would also suggest asking your grocery store manager if it would be possible for the store to get it for you.

Borax: Borax is a naturally occurring mineral: Sodium Borate. It is a white powder. It’s purpose is as a laundry whitener and deodorizer. The brand to look for is 20 Mule Team. It comes in a 76 oz. box. You should be able to locate this in the laundry detergent aisle. Again as with the washing soda, if you cannot find it ask you store manager or look online.

The Recipe

Now that you have assembled all the needed ingredients here is the recipe:

Homemade Laundry Soap
1/3 bar Fels Naptha or other type of soap, as listed above
½ cup washing soda
½ cup borax powder
~You will also need a small bucket, about 2 gallon size~

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.

Use a large spoon to break up clots. Then take a whisk to it. Pour into 2 one gallon plastic water jugs.
A few times I found that I was about 3 or 4 cups short of the 2 gallons the recipe makes. I just topped it off with hot water after I had filled the gallon jugs and it works just fine.

**A few things to note about the soap**

~The finished soap will not be a solid gel. It will be more of a watery gel that has been accurately described as an "egg noodle soup" look.

~The soap is a low sudsing soap. So if you don’t see suds, that is ok. Suds are not what does the cleaning, it is the ingredients in the soap.




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.



But is it Really Less Expensive?

Is the laundry detergent a cost saver? How do the numbers on this add up? Well I am a person who likes to know what I am spending and if my efforts save me in one way or another. This is one of the areas that I wanted to know if I was actually saving money. We do a lot of laundry and I make double batches of this soap and knowing that the time spent doing this was a savings for my family was important to me.

Here are my calculations:

The cost of making the above recipe of laundry soap was .71 cents. That was amazing to me! With this 2 gallon size recipe you will have enough to do 64 loads of laundry. That translates to about .01 cent a load.

How Did I Figure This Out?

Here is the breakdown of my costs and how I came up with those numbers (I am using the prices I paid for these items and you may find your price varies some based on what you pay):

Fels Naptha: $1.12 for a 5.5 oz bar. The recipes says use a 1/3 of a bar. I calculated 2 oz. just to make the math a little easier. The cost of the Fels Naptha per batch is: .40 cents


Washing Soda: $2.23 for a 55 oz. box. This came to .17 cents per batch. I calculated how much per oz (2.23 divided by 55) and then weighed a half cup of washing soda (4.2oz.) and multiplied my per oz. price by 4.2

Borax: $3.27 for a 76 oz. box. This came to .14 cents per batch. Did the same calculations as above, however a 1/2 cup of borax weighs 3.5 oz.

For the final numbers I have .40 + .17 + .14 = .71 for 2 gallons of laundry detergent


Two gallons translates to 64- 1/2 cup portions and .71 divided by 64 = .01109, etc... or about .01 cent a load!

Happy Laundry Soap Making!!!

[olgraybear]

Curious,
there was a newcast locally here on 17 Feb, 2011
there is also a video how they did the same procedure

http://www.5newsonline.com/news/kfsm-save-significant-by-making-your-own-liquid-laundry-detergent-20110217,0,1683874.story

[crosby]

thank you Arrowwind, i have a pretty big family, so this is going to save some money for me in the long run. much appreciated.
warmest regards, corson

[Arrowwind]

Curious,
there was a newcast locally here on 17 Feb, 2011
there is also a video how they did the same procedure

http://www.5newsonline.com/news/kfsm-save-significant-by-making-your-own-liquid-laundry-detergent-20110217,0,1683874.story

This formula has been on line for a very long time through a number of websites... it certainly is nothing new under the sun

[Nat_Lee]

hey cowel !

Thanks I'll try it ;)

[trenairio]

Bar soap is very easy to make. All soap used to be homemade back in the day...

[delaware]

Hi, please tell us how to make bar soap!

[Marianne]

Here's a website with a laundry detergent recipe that's safe for high efficiency washers (HE).
It uses a bought bar soap like Fels Naptha, Ivory, or other genuine soap (not a beauty bar or moisturizing bar).

Here's the link:
http://www.milehimama.com/how-to-make-homemade-laundry-soap-for-an-he/

[floweroflife]

Thanks!
Very helpful. Will save a lot of money.

[ThePythonicCow]

Homemade Laundry Soap
1/3 bar Fels Naptha or other type of soap, as listed above
½ cup washing soda
½ cup borax powder
My recipe is:

1 bar Fels Naptha
1 cup washing soda
1 cup borax powder

I grate the Fels Naptha using a Microplane 38000 Professional Coarse Grater (http://amzn.com/B00009WE3Y) (others work, but this one is especially well suited for this task.)

Then I put the 3 cups or so of the above powders into my laundry detergent canister and mix them up.

I use the resulting powder dry, seeing no need to liquify them ahead of time, as the laundry machine is quite capable of doing that stage.

[Arrowwind]

Homemade Laundry Soap
1/3 bar Fels Naptha or other type of soap, as listed above
½ cup washing soda
½ cup borax powder
My recipe is:

1 bar Fels Naptha
1 cup washing soda
1 cup borax powder

I grate the Fels Naptha using a Microplane 38000 Professional Coarse Grater (http://amzn.com/B00009WE3Y) (others work, but this one is especially well suited for this task.)

Then I put the 3 cups or so of the above powders into my laundry detergent canister and mix them up.

I use the resulting powder dry, seeing no need to liquify them ahead of time, as the laundry machine is quite capable of doing that stage.

So how much do you use per load?

[ThePythonicCow]

My recipe is:

1 bar Fels Naptha
1 cup washing soda
1 cup borax powder


...
I use the resulting powder dry ...

So how much do you use per load?

I have a 1/4 cup measure that lives permanently in my laundry room.

I use about half of that for a smaller load, and all of that (1/4 cup) for a larger load.

I have never really tested these amounts. They work. Perhaps less would work too :).

I also put a few ounces of vinegar in the "softener" dispenser, which helps remove any remaining soaps in the rinse.

[Arrowwind]

[I also put a few ounces of vinegar in the "softener" dispenser, which helps remove any remaining soaps in the rinse.

Using a 1/8 cup of this dry formula is way stronger than the liquid stuff I make,, costing you more money and more natural resouces. 1/8 to 1/4 cup is the reccommend use for the 2 gallon mix that uses much less soap to make than what you're doing.

[ThePythonicCow]

Using a 1/8 cup of this dry formula is way stronger than the liquid stuff I make
Good point. Thanks.

So that means that I could use quite a bit less per load.

I hadn't noticed much, because my laundry soap needs are quite minimal already.

If I am following your numbers correctly, you're getting about 64 laundry loads from your 2 gallons of laundry detergent, and your 2 gallons of liquid is mixed using roughly the same ingredients as my approximately 3 cups of dry powder.

So that means I should try using 1/64 of my approx. 3 cups of dry powder per load.

Let me convert all this to tablespoons, to avoid confusing fractions. My 3 cups of dry powder is equal to 48 tablespoons (thanks, Google.)

You're getting 64 loads out of that 48 tablespoons of powder ingredients, which is equivalent to 3/4 tablespoon of dry powder per load.

I'm getting 24 small loads out of that 48 tablespoons, which is 2 tablespoons of dry powder per load.

So I could switch from 2 tablespoons to 1 tablespoon, and still be using a little more than you are.

===

This is where a good grater comes in handy. A reasonably small and quite uniform particle size makes measuring out a tablespoon of powder more practical.

===

I just put a tablespoon measuring spoon in my container of laundry soap powder - thanks!

[ThePythonicCow]

1/8 to 1/4 cup is the reccommend use for the 2 gallon mix
Your earlier calculations seemed to figure you could get 64 laundry loads from your 2 gallons of mix, but 2 gallons of liquid can make 128 doses of 1/4 cup each, or 256 doses of 1/8 cup each.

So something is still not adding up here.

[DeDukshyn]

Here's a simple recipe for homemade all vegetable shampoo: http://www.just4usoaps.com/essential_oils_for_hair.html#.UPiW9me5VyI

I have bought bar soaps from this vendor before, very high quality soaps that make store bought stuff look like complete crap.

[Arrowwind]

1/8 to 1/4 cup is the reccommend use for the 2 gallon mix
Your earlier calculations seemed to figure you could get 64 laundry loads from your 2 gallons of mix, but 2 gallons of liquid can make 128 doses of 1/4 cup each, or 256 doses of 1/8 cup each.

So something is still not adding up here.

Well some people use more and some people use less. I tell customers a conservative number, but some people use much less and I tell people this when they first purchase.. so they will play with it and see what they think. Depends on how dirty the clothes are. Some people do use only 1/8 cup and they tell me this and it reflects in their purchase patterns. Either way its a pretty dang good deal.

[Arrowwind]

Here's a simple recipe for homemade all vegetable shampoo: http://www.just4usoaps.com/essential_oils_for_hair.html#.UPiW9me5VyI

I have bought bar soaps from this vendor before, very high quality soaps that make store bought stuff look like complete crap.

I think I'll try this shampoo.
Do you make it?
Does it separate after sitting around?

[ThePythonicCow]

Well some people use more and some people use less.
Well, I wasn't worried about what others do :).

I was just trying to be sure I understood what you were saying of your own preferences and calculations, and your own preferences.

I'm quite content knowing that others will choose to use less, and yet others (such as myself) will probably choose to use more.

My question is whether I read you correctly, when I read you as doing the calculations for 64 doses (out of the 2 gallons), but then recommending 128 or 256 doses.

[Arrowwind]

This is where a good grater comes in handy. A reasonably small and quite uniform particle size makes measuring out a tablespoon of powder more practical.

===

I just put a tablespoon measuring spoon in my container of laundry soap powder - thanks!

And you find that the fels napa dissolves well in the tub? do you use hot or cold water. I never use hot.

[DeDukshyn]

Here's a simple recipe for homemade all vegetable shampoo: http://www.just4usoaps.com/essential_oils_for_hair.html#.UPiW9me5VyI

I have bought bar soaps from this vendor before, very high quality soaps that make store bought stuff look like complete crap.

I think I'll try this shampoo.
Do you make it?
Does it separate after sitting around?

I haven't made it yet, but I sure am intrigued by the simplicity of the recipe. The only issue I can possible see is potentially some oil buildup, which happens with vegetable soaps. I used some hemp soap for washing my hair for a while (just out of pure disgust with commercial shampoo ingredient lists), and it did cause a bit of buildup; Bram suggested an apple cider vinegar rinse, I never did try it but I see on the page with the shampoo recipe they also suggest a vinegar rinse, I think ACV would be best.

I'm a little tempted now, if you make it, let me know what you think. ;)

[ThePythonicCow]

And you find that the fels napa dissolves well in the tub? do you use hot or cold water. I never use hot.
I've never seen the slightest problem with my powder not dissolving.

I use "warm" for most of my items, which is both taps, hot and cold, turned on full. My "hot" is only 120F, as my hot water heater isn't set very hot. My "cold" is perhaps 50F at present, in winter.

My Maytag Duet Sport does perhaps a better job than most washers dissolving the soap, however.

[Arrowwind]

Here's a simple recipe for homemade all vegetable shampoo: http://www.just4usoaps.com/essential_oils_for_hair.html#.UPiW9me5VyI

I have bought bar soaps from this vendor before, very high quality soaps that make store bought stuff look like complete crap.


I think I'll try this with Dr Bronner's castile soap. You can take that bar type and grate it and heat it up in about 1 gallon of water (maybe 3 quarts) and let set overnight it makes a nice soap, it should form a large clot then you mash it up.. or so Im theorizing. Then add the ingredients from these shampoo recepie.. or you could just purchase the more expensive Dr Bronner's liquid castile soap and work from that but thats too expensive for me.. espcially when I see a more cost effective approach, and its also another plastic bottle to toss.

a little trick with soap... if your liquid soap comes out too thin reheat it and add about 1/2 teaspoon salt then let cool. It should thicken right up.

so if you did the 1 gallon approach you would get 16 cups of shampoo... I wouldn't bother to add the distilled water as per directions... just the jajoba oil and essential oil.. but if you found you needed to thin it down you could.
http://www.iherb.com/search?kw=dr+bronners+castile+soap&x=0&y=0#none (http://www.iherb.com/search?kw=dr+bronners+castile+soap&x=0&y=0#none)

Jojoba Oil
http://www.iherb.com/Desert-Essence-100-Pure-Jojoba-Oil-4-fl-oz-118-ml/3581

real salt:
http://www.iherb.com/Real-Salt-Fine-Salt-26-oz-737-g/40626


an iherb coupon for you:
http://www.healthsalon.org/a-coupon-for-you/

[soleil]

hi arrowwind, i am going to try making this next time i run out of my laundry detergent. right now i am using ecos which says 100% natural plant based ingredients. but i'm interested in trying this too.
how do you make the more potent powder detergent? i'll re read the thread to find it, if it was posted.

id love to make my own bar soap/shampoo too, i think i'm going to be a busy bee!!