I took the opportunity of not being able to do anything because it rained again all day to take a stab at making my own laundry soap. Mandy over at thefarmerscompound has put up some real good posts on how to make all your household cleaning supplies yourself and even priced it out so I thought why not.
The one thing I found is that even though a lot of people know how to do this, nobody puts up any pictures of the finished product. I don't have a clue if I did it right or not.
I have also found that for every person out there that makes their own laundry soap there are that many if not more recipes for it.
Let me tell you what I did and like I said, I do not have a clue.
I took one cut up 14.1 oz laundry soap bar made from Mexico and put it in my food processor (I will never do that again). When it was shredded up pretty fine I dumped it in a bucket and added 1 1/2 cups of Washing soda and 1 1/2 cups of Borax.
The recipe I followed told me to keep it in powder form and only use 3 table spoons per load.
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| One batch mixed up |
I don't know if this is right or not but I'm going with it. I have an HE washer and this I guess is a concentrate.
I talked with Mandy and she said it might leave white stuff all over my clothes and the only way to find out is just do it.
I put a bunch of black shirts in to make sure I could see any left over soap and I added plain Vinegar for the fabric softener.
I just pulled them out of the washer and they are clean and actually smell good. I did cheat a little on this load by hitting extra rinse button, but on the next one I won't.
During our emailing back and forth I asked her if she thought it was weird that she was talking a big dumb redneck through doing laundry. She simply said, "I have talked them through worse"
Well, The wife is hollering supper is ready and I am not going to miss out on Chicken and Dumplings.
I make a gel soap using Fels-Naptha soap,water, borax,and washing soda.One five gallon bucket of mix washes 5-6 weeks worth laundry for 5 people. It only costs us about $20 worth of materials for a year with some left over material. We have been using it for a couple of years now and it works great. The recipe I use is from the Duggar(?)Family website (the people with 19 kids).
ReplyDeleteI make a version of this have for quite some time. Mine is liquid. I use a different bar soap, mine calls for the Fels Naptha than this. It maybe the same as Coley is saying she uses it sounds like it is. I figured out it cost me 3 cents a load to use this detergent! Oh ya that so works money wise and it works well to clean the clothes! Since I did my post giving the recipe, Walmart is now carrying all the supplies even the bar soap. If you want to try it its on this post,
ReplyDeletehttp://texan.blogspot.com/search?q=laundry+soap
I have the old kind of washer but I know a gal using this in her new front load HE Type. Works great for her.
So you do have a soft spot???
ReplyDeleteI use the same recipe as Coley too also from the Duggars, but I experiment with all types of bar soap and have kinda settled on Ivory and Irish Spring for the scent. Five gallons lasts my family 4 weeks. I grate the soap by hand, it doesn't take long at all.
ReplyDeleteShar
I use the same recipe as Coley too also from the Duggars, but I experiment with all types of bar soap and have kinda settled on Ivory and Irish Spring for the scent. Five gallons lasts my family 4 weeks. I grate the soap by hand, it doesn't take long at all.
ReplyDeleteShar
Coley - I think I will try that next. So far I like the powder. It seams really easy.
ReplyDeleteTexan - The bar I got is the same thing but it was cheaper than the Fels-Naptha and bigger as well. I think i will try the liquid in a couple of months when this runs out.
Rob - I am sorry buddy I don't understand.
Share - Five gallons a month? What does that come out to be a load?
i use the five gallon bucket gel stuff with the bar soap being fels naptha...i have a front loader washing machine and it uses he liquid only detergent.. i do about four loads a week for two people and two dogs...costs me about 2cents a load and i find i need to make about two batches a year so my yearly cost is cheap too since it takes a whole bar of soap to make 15 gallons and so at the end of the year i still have 1/3 bar left. i have been working on the same box of washing soda now for about four years, and the same with the borax. by the way, this stuff dont suds alot but it is excellent for dishes too.
ReplyDeletefrom anon 9:38...i forgot to tell ya that i only use 1 ounce of the liquid gel per load.
ReplyDeleteawesome post MDR!!! we have begun making all of our own soap as well and it is great to find and test out different recipes!you can save sooo much money by making your own dish soap, laundry soap and body soap - we love it!
ReplyDeleteyour friend,
kymber
I have a regular top loading one, and have been making my own laundry soap for over a year. I make the liquid form and love it. Every one of the recipes I have ever found says you need a specific bar of soap, but I use Ivory because we have eczema issues in this family and I know that is a "safe" soap. It works wonderful, and I actually bought a bottle of "sensitive skin" Arm and Hammer soap (something I have used since the kids were little) not long ago, and hated the smell after using the homemade stuff.
ReplyDeleteWell done MDR!!
Rob - I had to sleep on it but I got it. Yes I do have a soft spot I guess.
ReplyDeleteAnony - Only two batches a year. That is amazing. I wonder why recipe called for a whole bar then.
Kymber - I am finding out I am behind the learning curve and almost everyone reading this makes their own soap. The laundry soap I was buying cost about ten cents a load so I didn't see much of a worry about doing it myself.
Stephanie - Like I said, I don't know the difference powder compared to liquid makes when doing it yourself but it looks like everyone is doing the liquid. I know I am stubborn when it comes to doing things my way but I might take the hint here and the next match be liquid.
Do you mean cost per load or amount used per load MDR? I've never figured the cost, but I use a scoop (approx. 3/4 cup)left over from when I bought powdered Gain. I do laundry everyday, we have 4 people living here during the week and 2 more on most weekends.
ReplyDeleteShar
Shar - Yes I was talking about cost per load. I guess doing it yourself figures out to be about three cents per load if you use one ounce of soap.
ReplyDeleteI am charting and graphing mine so I will know in a month what the powder is doing and then I will run the same on the liquid to compare what is the best bang for the buck.
I'm glad it all worked out! It may just be how hard our water is, my dad said. Thought you may be interested, but I got an email from someone who says they don't use deodarant or antiperspirant any more, they just dab on apple cider vinegar...but I think that's taking frugality too far out there for me. LOL.
ReplyDeleteMandy - Yup, I don't think that is going to happen here. After a hard day I smell like a rabid dog that ate a skunk and I don't think apple cider is going to cure that.
ReplyDeleteGood info though, I might keep some around just in case.
I haven't tried to make my own soap. I've heard of people using a bar of perfume-free body soap, shaving it up into tiny pieces, and mixing it with water until it dissolves to make a liquid soap.
ReplyDeleteKris - You are talking to the wrong person on what to do. I know they use it in the mixture with the other stuff. I went on the Dugger website and I am going to use hers next time.
ReplyDeleteHey, if thats what gets ya to doin laundry. Lol
ReplyDeleteSGF - Shoot, I do all my own and the towels as well plus a lot of the cooking and cleaning.
ReplyDeleteYour momma raised you right MDR! I have been using the powdered version for some time now and my hubby being sensitive to all perfumey type cleaning things really likes it. By the way he does his own laundry if I dont get to it first and cooks. His momma raised him right :) By the way if you are looking for a bar soap to use in your laundry with a pleasing and not overpowering scent try Octigon. It has a nice lemony scent.
ReplyDeleteDenise - Thank you for that information. I will look into it.
ReplyDeleteI want to try the liquid after this powder batch I made up to compare not only the cost but how well it preforms. Then I will make the decision on what to go with from now on.
That's the plan anyway.
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