Homemade Laundry Soap

I'm sure a lot of you have seen this homemade laundry detergent recipe on the internet lately. Just in case you haven't, this was my experience making the detergent for the first time.

Basically, the soap is made from 4 household ingredients. Bar Soap, Washing Soda, Borax and Water.

I'll quickly give you a run down of the process.

First, you take a bar of soap and grate it on a box grater. I used a bar of Fels-Naptha laundry soap. (I have also used one called Zote that can sometimes be found in the laundry isle or can be found in a Hispanic store.) However, you can use any bar soap that you like. 

Then, you need to melt down the soap you grated. Put about 4 cups of water in a pot and bring it to a boil. Turn it down to a simmer and add the soap shavings to the water a little at a time. You can stir it around with a spoon to help it along.

Also, you need to get a large container/bucket of some sort with a lid. Fill the large container with 2-3 gallons of hot water.

Pour your melted soap mixture into the hot water along with 1 cup of Super Washing Soda and 1/2 cup of Borax.

Stir with a large spoon until all the powders have dissolved. Then you are supposed to put the lid on your container and let it sit for 24 hours until it gels.

Let me just tell you that washing soda can be hard to find. Many stores do not carry it. I realize that washing soda and baking soda are 2 different things. But, I wanted to make the soap and couldn't find any washing soda. So, I just threw in a cup of the baking soda instead. Because in my mind the soap you use is for it's cleaning properties. The borax is a laundry booster that softens hard water which helps your detergent work better. The baking soda has sanitizing and deodorizing benefits which is the same thing the washing soda does.

I let my detergent sit for 12 hours. I couldn't help myself and took the lid off to see what it looked like. What I found was that the top half of the mixture had formed into a thick gelatinous substance. Under the gel it just seemed to be soapy water. So, I took a spoon and broke up the gel and mixed it all up again. After a few more hours I checked it again and found that the whole container was now gelled at this point. I'm guessing if I would have left it the full 24 hours without messing with it, it probably would have all been gelled.

When it was finished I ended up with a very thick gel. To wash your clothes, just dip out a cup of the gel and add it to your washer like you would with any other laundry detergent. Don't worry about its Jello-like appearance, it will dissolve in the water. This is a low sudsing detergent so don't freak out if you don't see a lot of bubbles in the washer. Also, the color and scent of your detergent will vary depending on which bar soap you use.

From what I have calculated, I could probably make laundry detergent for a year for about $12.00!
I would still suggest pre-treating tough stains before washing.

I liked the fresh smell of this detergent. I have started using this soap to scrub down things all around the house now.