One time, not so very long ago, I unintentionally skipped several days in a row of doing laundry…as you can imagine with four young children to care for, our laundry hamper was then filled to the brim, high and beyond, with all of the laundry waiting to be done. So high was this pile, it caused our 7-year-old to excitedly call out to his older brother, “Hey! You’ve got to come see this!! It’s a laundry SKYSCRAPER!!!” :}
I knew I was doing a lot of laundry, however, once I started keeping track to see how many loads were being done in a month, I was surprised to realize that we average 14-16 loads per week! (An HE washer is definitely a consideration for the future! :} That many loads adds up to a lot of money being devoted directly towards just detergent alone!
There are lots of different recipes to choose from when setting out to make your own homemade laundry soap but many have the same three recurring ingredients (Washing soda, Borax & laundry bar soap) with some options to personalize to your preference (ie: essential oils, etc).
What I decided on was a modified version of a couple of different recipes that I liked – it is so easy and very cost-effective! This amount should last for around 4 months and the entire cost was under $20!
You need:
– One 1.81 kg (4lb) box of Arm & Hammer Baking soda
– One 2.15kg (4lb, 12oz) box of Borax
– 1.67kg of Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda (I could only find this in a 3lb 7oz box so that would equate to 1/2 of this box)
– Three 155g (5 1/2 oz) bars of laundry bar soap (I used Fels-Naptha, which is safe for sensitive skin and has a nice, mild scent. After researching different recipes & sites, Pure & Natural, Ivory, Zote & Sunlight are all also touted as effective choices and HE washer safe too – it would seem that it is just a matter of personal preference)
***Finely grate the laundry bar soap.
Next, add all ingredients together in a laundry bucket, (lined with a garbage bag) tossing the ingredients together to mix well. Store in a container and use 1-2 tbsp per load. (I purchased this 2 gallon glass container and the scrapbboking stickers to label it from WalMart and the little scoop from our local Dollar Store) It is really that easy and it works great even in cold water! I love it! I still use a fabric softener and they pair well together.
***A fun little side note – I later found several sources that called for microwaving the bars of soap for 60-90 seconds each instead of using the grating method. With an extra bar of soap just sitting in my cupboard, of course I had to try!
This is the ‘before’ shot –
And this is the ‘after’ –
It was such an unexpected consistency – dry, brittle & crumbling to the touch. A much easier way than grating to prepare the bar soap for the recipe! And fun to boot – like a little mini-science experiment to involve the kiddies in! It crumbles easily to an even finer texture than grating. Definitely the way to go next time. ***