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How to make homemade laundry soap

3K views 13 replies 10 participants last post by  MikeK 
#1 ·
One of the things I do to save money and space is make my own laundry soaps. The supplies take up very little room, and I personally mix my soap in the Home Depot Homer buckets with the lids. Here's what you need:

1 bar Fels Naptha laundry soap (found in either the laundry aisle of the grocery store, or more likely, in the regular bar soap aisle. You can also order it on amazon!) $1.29

1 box borax (you won't use the whole box!) $3-$4
1 box washing soda (again, you won't use the whole box) $3-$4

a 5 gallon bucket to mix and store the soap in (mark inside at 2gal. and 4 gal. mark! saves time later)
a hand held grater that will grate the soap finely
a measuring cup- either 1/4 cup if you have a front load washer, or 1/2 cup if you have a top loader

totally optional but I'm lazy and like it: one of those sieve on a stick things- you know, a colander with a handle

The basic recipe:
1/3 bar of Fels naptha, grated finely
1/2 cup borax
1/2 cup washing soda
2 gallons water

How to do it- the lazy ninja way!

I always make a double batch! Grate the fels naptha into the sieve, then pour very hot water through the sieve and into your bucket until all the soap is dissolved. Add in the washing soda and borax, stir well until everything is dissolved , then fill bucket with warm water to the 2 gallon line for the single batch, or 4 gallon line for a double batch. Let it cool and set for about 24 hours before using!

The consistancy of this soap is pretty weird- I just made a batch that was kinda like jello with juice around it, just break up the chunks and scoop out what you need- 1/4 cup for front loaders, 1/3-1/2 cup for top loaders.

A single batch will wash 64 loads of laundry, double batch will wash 128 loads of laundry (assuming you use 1/2 cup per load- double those numbers if you have a front load washer!).

Each box of borax and washing soda is good for 5 double batches of laundry- AT LEAST! I've never measured, since I use borax and washing soda for other stuff around the house as well.

So, you could easily buy 10 bars of fels naptha, 3 boxes each of the washing soda and borax, spend roughly $40, and have enough supplies to make 1,920 loads worth of laundry soap. All of this will fit into a milk crate. That is the equivilant of 60 jugs of laundry detergent! If you pay $4 per 32 load jug now, your savings is $200. Your space savings, however, is pretty significant!
 
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#3 · (Edited)
Ha- I'm lazy and I'm soooo not doing extra dishes! Other people recommend cooking the grated soap on the stove to dissolve it- yeah, again, not doing extra dishes. Takes me about 5 minutes to make up a double batch, start to finish, and 3 of those minutes are grating the soap!

The grater, sieve on a stick, and measuring cups are dedicated just to soap making so I don't have to wash them.

Anything that saves me time is what I call "an investment in my future laziness"
 
#8 ·
Good post Tai, but you forgot to tell everyone how good this stuff works! I use the same ingredients but different ratios and have, no regrets,wear clean clothes and have saved money. This stuff works great!

Took awhile to get my wife onboard, she's happy with the results, but wants me to add some Foo-Foo to make it smell like her old store bought stuff. Ain't gonna happen. Never liked unnatural perfumed smells.

If you have a WinCo store near you, they have all the stuff to make this, and it's cheaper than buying online. You can use bar soaps other than Fels-Naptha, but plan on using the whole bar.

This is a low or no suds soap so don't worry if you don't see any. Yes it works well in a 5 Gallon bucket/plunger human powered washing machine.
 
#9 ·
You can use plain ivory soap as well, and there are several others. The main thing to look out for when using other soaps is stay away from soaps with moisturizing ingredients.

It does a really, really good job! You can also use the "nub" of fels naptha as a pretreater!
 
#13 ·
For 'foo foo' smells, I add some essential oils :)

I have used:
Tea Tree Oil (anti fungal and 'clean' smelling)
Lavendar oil
Lemon Oil
Orange Oil


If you want to go all out, but a $4 bottle of essential oil at your local store and add drops until it smells like something your wife would like.
Its cheaper than storebought :)
 
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