First Some Tips:
* For the bar soaps required in the recipes, you could try Fels-Naptha, Ivory soap, Sunlight bar soap, Kirk’s Hardwater Castile, and Zote. Don’t use heavily perfumed soaps.
* Washing Soda and Borax can normally be found in the laundry and cleaning aisles.
* Some people with really hard water or well water may have to adjust the recipes if the clothes look dingy.
* Although several of the recipes have the same ingredients, the measurements are different–some contain a higher soap to water ratio. Test and see which works best for your laundry needs.
* You can make huge pails of this at once, or smaller quantities. Also if you can get your hands on a few empty liquid laundry detergent bottles they work great for storing the detergent. Just make a big batch and pour in bottles, cap then use as needed–shake before use.
* Some of the recipes call for large amounts of water. Check with a local restaurant to see if they have any empty large pails from deep fryer oil–that’s how many restaurants buy the oil. See if you can have one or two of the pails after they’ve emptied it–just wash them out really well before using. They’re big, heavy plastic and very sturdy when stirring the soap and hot water.
10 Homemade Laundry Soap Detergent Recipes
Recipe #1
1 quart Water (boiling)
2 cups Bar soap (grated)
2 cups Borax
2 cups Washing Soda
* Add finely grated bar soap to the boiling water and stir until soap is melted. You can keep on low heat until soap is melted.
* Pour the soap water into a large, clean pail and add the Borax and Washing Soda. Stir well until all is dissolved.
* Add 2 gallons of water, stir until well mixed.
* Cover pail and use 1/4 cup for each load of laundry. Stir the soap each time you use it (will gel).
Thanks,
Elsie ./.
:bigsmile:
The recipe we use is as follows and comes from the duggarfamily.com website:
4 cups hot water
1 fels-naptha soap bar or ivory
1 cup washing soda
1/2 cup Borax
-Grate the soap into a pan and melt using the water...stir constantly
-fill a 5 gallon bucket half full of hot tap water and add the melted soap, washing soda, and borax (i also add a few drops of essential oil like lavender or tea tree for fragrance)
-stir until all powder if dissolved
-fill the rest of the way with hot tap water and let sit over night until it gels
-when ready to use, get an old laundry soap bottle and fill half full of detergent and then fill the rest of the way with water and shake well
-the soap will gel pretty firm but when you scoop some into the laundry soap bottle and add the water and shake...it turns into normal liquid laundry soap
-you get 10 gallons of liquid detergent for a few dollars and it works great
-we also use white vinegar as a rinse aid instead of fabric softener...1/4 cup added to where you put the fabric softener then fill the rest of the way with water
can I use a box of Ivory flakes? i'm dying to try this and almost did for Mother's day as a gift with a poem for my daughter's. They don't know how easy they have it...
... but haven't tried it yet. Probably you will use more flakes than shaved bar and will have to experiment.
The mixture smells a bit strong at first, but the clothes come out surprisingly very mellow in comparison.
Good idea as a daughter's gift, "timesavers" come with a price not always in money. Make up your own holiday or go to www.123greetings.com and they have all kinds of holidays if you need some inspiration ... I like "Hug Your Cat" Day.
:)
is washing soda like arm & hammer soda. pls., explain would like to give recipe a whirl.
They are not the same thing but are both made by Arm & Hammer.
The only grocery chain that I found carries it in my area of TN is Krogers. They have everything for the recipe. You can also order it online from Arm & Hammer.
I use the Fels Naptha on everything, besides laundry, it's awesome to use on your plants/trees as a fungicide!!!!! put a bar in a pan of water, get the water to a boil, let it sit with the soap in it awhile, remove the bar of soap, and it's good to go! Take that mix and put about a cup in a 2 gallon sprayer mixed with water and wala!!!! Also you can add some Ivory dish soap if you want...works great!
I had to order the Fels because down here they'd never heard of it before! :)
yes you can use this in the new HE washers.
it does not get foamy with suds.
Thanks,
Elsie ./.
It's a Kenmore, both water saver and energy efficient
I make this as well and I add in essential oils like orange and lavender. For 1 gal. I put in about 10 drops (enough that I can barely smell it).
laundry detergent. can you make this without adding water?
Without adding water? Do you mean to make it a powder? If so the answer would be no because of the soap bar. I can't for the life of me figure out the word I am looking for but basically it would not mix right and be too strong.
Grating the soap real fine, spreading it out to dry and then mix together ...
Too much work, so I stuck with the liquid form.
HOWEVER, at one point I left about a half-cup out, and it ended up like jelly ...
Sorta like making my own gel-paks, just plop 'em in the water when needed ... easy to travel/camp with in a zip plastic bag.
