Search This Blog

Wednesday, July 1, 2015

What does a year’s worth of laundry soap look like?

2015-06-27 11.57.20

This!

I have made homemade laundry soap a few times.  Once I made liquid, and HATED it, because it was so….gloopy and sloppy.  But this stuff?  I love it!  It smells great, cleans really well, and for under $30, I will have enough to last for a year (doing laundry for 3 of us, so around 6-10 loads a week).  I have read several articles about this, and yes, it is safe for HE washers.  You only need to use 1-2 tablespoons for each load.  Here is what it takes.

  • 2 bars of Zote soap
  • 1 large box of 20 Mule Team Borax (4 lb. 12 oz)
  • 1 (3 pound or so) OxiClean powder
  • 1 (3 lb 7 oz) box of Arm and Hammer Washing Soda
  • 1 (4 pound) box of Baking Soda
  • 2 bottles (containers?) Laundry Crystals (whatever scent you prefer…I like lavendar) (Brands include Purex, Downy, Gain…)

The biggest job is grating the soap. I always use my food processor.  I shred it using a shredding blade, then I put it back in the food processor with the S blade and some of the baking soda, and blend it.

Then, you need a really, REALLY big container to mix it all in. A 5 gallon bucket with a lid is perfect, so you can just mix and shake right in the bucket.  A dishpan also works.  Just dump everything in and shake/stir…whatever it takes to get it all blended together well. 

The entire process took less than 30 minutes.  Save the Oxi clean container, and the laundry crystal containers, and anything else you can use to store it in.  Use 1 tablespoon for small loads, and for large loads use 2.  If I see a stain, I will pretreat with a laudnry spray.  Overall, we are VERY happy with this stuff.

(This is not my original “recipe”, but I don’t know who, in the big wide world of the internet, to give credit to.  It is all over pinterest.  I found it here, and here, and here in a really quick browse.)