Yes, I now make my own laundry soap! I told some friends of this development and the resounding response was "please please tell me how" so that's what this is intended to do. The formula ends up costing about 50cents per gallon, the soap will be ready next-day. The idea is my own modification of the recipe put forward by the Urban Homesteaders group. (Gotta get you a link...it's on my to-do list.)
Get out your corn boiling pot, it should do about one gallon. Start that amount of water to boil.
Ingredients you'll need are:
- Fels-Naptha (getting harder to find, zote soap works too.)
- Borax
- Washing Soda (which is not the same as baking soda, and is sold on the same shelf as borax, next to your basic raw cleaning stuff near the buckets and whatnot).
- Amonia is a good idea, too. I started using 1/4 cup amonia in each mix, also, as clothes stay fresh smelling longer with that in there. But, it's optional. If you use bleach in your washing, don't use the amonia. 1 cup Vinegar works the same.
In addition to the 1/4 cup measure that's show sitting on top of the laudry soda box, you'll also need this stuff.
A big bucket - this one is 5 gallons. 2.5 gallons would do, though. Grater, slotted spoon, big funnel, sauce pot.
Grate about 1.25 inches off of the Fels-Naptha bar. (I used a paper plate to collect it.) If you're using zote soap, that soap bar is huge, just use half an inch of a zote bar for this.
Melt the Fels-Naptha shavings in a small amount of water (something like a cup of water or less will do just fine).
In your big bucket, pour 1 or so gallons of water you boiled earlier, then add the dissolved shavings, and 1/4cup of borax and 1/4cup of Laundry Soda. I've now started adding 1/4 cup amonia at this point, for fresher smelling clothes. (If you EVER use any bleach in your laundry at all, DON'T use amonia. Use a cup vinegar as a substitute for this.) Mix this all together evenly with that same slotted spoon.
Let sit to the next day when it will be a little bit jellied. Use that same slotted spoon to slosh up the jelly so it's a relatively even liquid consistency. There will be lumps (well, unless you use a big whisk, there will be) so don't worry about those, as long as they're small enough to pour through the laundry soap container spout they wont bother you any.
Pour liquid into laundry soap container of choice. I had been saving my regular laundry soap containers so I use those. This filled three 50 fl oz bottles perfectly. Have an extra bottle handy just in case you end up with more. :) I set the bottle on that paper plate from earlier to pour, and then after I mopped the floor with the spills I had, was great.
Use something like 1/2 cup per load, it works great!
Hint: I've designated the saucepot, slotted spoon and funnel for this purpose. I probably should designate a cheese grater, but until I can find a good cheese grater for that purpose, I'm rationalizing that the Fels-Naptha isn't liquid when it contacts that bit. But honestly, I'm looking at rummage sales for a cheese grater, too. I have no idea what's in Fels-Naptha, rather not leave it to chance.
