Laundry Soap

As a college student, I am always looking for ways to save money. Gardening is my passion, but it helps that it saves us a ton on our grocery bill. So I was looking around the Internet at people who have posted different tips and tricks for saving money when I stumbled across a blog claiming to save you hundreds on laundry detergent. I sat there for a good 5 minutes just staring at the article thinking to myself, "homemade"? I know food is way better when you make it yourself, and veggies taste 100 times better when you grow them, but laundry soap?! Come on; who are you kidding?!!

I did end up reading the article and doing some research. It's a fairly simple recipe: 4 ingredients and not many chemicals, which is a good thing as I don't necessarily believe that we need all the chemicals in our lives anyway, but it still made me wonder if it could handle our wear and tear on the clothes. In the summer between the garden, the horses, and our yardwork we are filthy. Then I smacked myself upside the head because a lot of these ingredients have been around for at least 50 years. And they were probably much rougher on their clothes then we are.

                                                     The ingredients are:

1. Water, self explanatory, though I did find a few recipes that were powdered instead of liquid. I will add those links at the bottom so anyone who likes powdered can use it. My washing machine does better with liquid, honestly. 

2. Borax is also known as soduim borate, it is a naturally occurring mineral caused by the repeated evaporation of seasonal lakes. It was first discovered in dry lake beds in Tibet and was then imported into  Arabia. Borax works by converting some water molecules to hydrogen peroxide. This reaction happens more often with warm water so for best results use warmer water when washing your clothes. I use 20 mule team borax, which is the most common kind of household borax found. 

3. Washing soda, is also called sodium carbonate. It is used domestically as a water softener for laundry, and can be used when dying. I buy Arm and Hammer which is the only kind I can find in the stores.

4. A bar soap of your choice. I have used Felz Naptha which is a laundry soap bar, and I didn't mind the results. I have also used Dr. Bronners organic soap. And that is good too. Honestly I think it comes down to personal preference. I have seen recipes of people who swear by using Ivory soap. My plan is to eventually make my own soap to use in my laundry detergent. But for now I use what I have.

5. You will also need a five gallon bucket, a long handled stir stick, a pot of your choice and your soap containers.

                                So you start by heating up 4 cups of water on the stove.

Grate your bar of soap beforehand (some people use an old food processor) and put that in the water on your stove. Let simmer until ALL of your soap is dissolved.

Get your 5 gallon bucket and fill halfway with hot water, mix in one cup of borax and one cup of washing soda.

Stir until well mixed. Add your water/soap mixture and fill the rest of the bucket with hot water to the top of the bucket. Stir until well mixed.

I let this sit overnight, you don't have to but then it sets in the containers and if you fill it to the top it won't mix up enough to turn back to liquid. If you have animals or small children I would suggest putting a lid on the container. I used a plate that fit over the top as I didn't want my dog accidentally drinking this.

This will end up gelling kinda like jello honestly. That's fine, just make sure you mix well the next day. This is where your long handles stirring implement comes in handy. I just used some scrap lumber but you can use whatever. I have read that some people use an immersion blender or whisk attached to a power drill, just use whatever you want. Once mixed you are ready to put into your containers!

It gets everywhere when you go to pour so I would do this over towels or in a place where it's fine if you splash the liquid a little. Or I have even just left it in the 5 gallon bucket under the counter next to my laundry machine and took a cup when we did laundry. You still need to stir it but whatever works for you. 

Once you have it in your containers you are ready to use it!! You use about half a cup a load or a little more if you have a large dirty load. I use the old caps you get with the big laundry detergent bottles, and just fill halfway. It will clump in the containers so leave some space so you can shake the bottle before use.

The best part about this homemade laundry detergent is the price! When I bought these ingredients they were:

One box of borax - $4.99

One box of washing soda - $3.59

Felz Naptha - $.99

or Dr. Bronner's Soap - $2.99

I linked them all to amazon, where they are much more expensive but you can find everything at your local grocery store. The Dr. Bronner's is in the natural foods section with their cleaning supplies.With the amount I use (1/2 cup per load) that works out to 160 loads per every 5 gallons. That costs me $4.03 per batch of detergent I make. That's .03 cents a load!! And at about $20.00 per bottle of regular laundry detergent I am saving serious money!!!

There is a recipe for powder detergent that seems to be just as popular. I am going to preface this link by saying I have never used it, my laundry machine works better with liquid. However if you like the powder more let me know! I want to see how it turns out!!

Powdered Laundry Detergent