Saturday, February 6, 2010

Make Your Own Laundry Soap Tutorial


Little by little, I am being more enviromentally conscience.  I always wanted to learn how to make my own laundry soap.  Well, I found a recipe that I am interested in trying. Here is a simple recipe that has nice step by step tutorial with pictures. 

http://www.mummydeals.org/2009/12/making-your-own-laundry-soap-for-7-per.html

If anyone has a recipe they would like to share, please let me know about it. Even the horror stories.

4 comments:

shris said...

Hi.

I use a similar recipe. I use 1c borax and 1c soda to my 1 bar of 'octagon' or 'zote' soap. The zote sets up to a hard jelly, the octagon sets up to a softer jelly.

I use a gallon of water on the stove instead of 4 cups, and change the water in the bucket to 2 gallons. I also find that for my kids (2 five year olds, one of whom is still 'leaking' daily), I need 2 cups of the resulting sludge in the laundry for a 'super' load. Just 1 cup for the adult laundry unless really dirty.

It's excellent for scrubbing off stuff like ring around the collar and other body soil. It has a mild scent that completely disappears in the dryer (good for my daughter's sensitive skin).

I also use a touch of vinegar with water in the rinse cup as a fabric softener--just a little as it can change the color of clothes or spot them.

I dunno that $7 is what I'm going to pay for a year, but I've been using the stuff for about a year and have made several batches. I do like the octagon better than zote for *making* because the zote is softer and more difficult to grate and melt. I also like the smell of octagon better.

One note: If you use regular bar soap you use for yourself, you might be using 'detergent' instead of 'soap'. Soap is the lye-oil or lye-fat mix, whereas detergent is usually a chemical formulation. Detergents may work better in hard water as soaps can end up with 'scum' that turns whites gray. Your mileage may vary, I haven't had trouble with my whites in the south.

Anyway, yes, it's a good recipe. Yes, it's quick and easy to make. You might want to keep your soap-making equipment and supplies separate from your food-making equipment, as the borax is slightly poisonous.

shris

Lori Stoia said...

Thanks Shris for your tips! I have never make laundry soap before and always wanted to try.

dalene said...

i made this once before and loved it, but then replaced my ancient washing machine w/ an HE washer and i've been afraid to try it. i haven't found anyone who could tell me for certain it could be used in an HE washer. do you know?

Sunday Girl said...

I used to make soap some years ago. I loved it and I love homemade soap. So I made some laundry soap from a plain bar of homemade soap plus some other ingredients (don't remember now) and let me tell you that it was not appealing in the least bit. It made the water gray and made the clothes gray. Needless to say I didn't use it twice. Perhaps it is my hard water or something like that. I wish I could find a good recipe.