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Sunday, September 6, 2009

Homemade Laundry Soap

I started making my own laundry detergent a while ago. I found this recipe and it works great. I am saving money- costs less than $10 for the ingredients. The boxes of Borax and Washing Soda make at least 5 batches (I think I am under estimating here). Only one tablespoon of this soap is needed for a regular load, 2 tablespoons for a large or extra dirty load, so a batch lasts a while. I am also lessening my carbon footprint, as I am no longer buying a plastic bottle of detergent every other week. I use it in my He machine, but I do NOT use it on my cloth diapers. I am afraid that the soap might leave a build up on the diapers.

 

Ingredients:

1 Bar of Fels Naptha Soap (I have found this soap in the hand soap aisle and the laundry soap aisle of the grocery store)
1 Cup Borax
1 Cup Washing Soda (not the same as baking soda)
1/4 Cup Oxy Clean powder (optional, I don't use it)
Oil for scent (I use lavender oil, but I'm out right now)

Other:
Grater
Bowl
Large spoon
Something to store final product in

Grate the soap using the holes on the grater that are this size, or close:


After grating 1/2 the bar, I stop to check on Sophie.......

                                                                             
                                                                 ......and to switch grating arms.

When done grating, soap will look like this:

 

Add rest of ingredients. It will look like this when done:



Sophie will look like this when done:


I store my final product in this:
 

Enjoy!

4 comments:

Kirsten said...

Great idea! And what a bonus that Sophie looks even happier at the end of the detergent-making process! Would a food processor work for the soap grating, or is it best to have a dedicated soap grater? I'm lazy, see.

Oh, and my family had those Tupperware storage containers when I was growing up! I always loved the ridgy tops.

Tracey said...

Kirsten- the bar of soap is really hard and could possibly cause a food processor to explode....

Carly said...

Im going to try this. thanks for the tip.

Anonymous said...

Wow I had no idea you could do this -thanks for the tip!