Homemade Laundry Soap!

[helenleeks]

thanks for the recipe.  once i kill off the last of the liquid detergent i bought in may (it was buy one get two free.  i still have two bottles and only two people in my house....it could be awhile), i WILL make my own detergent.  I really like the addition of the grapefruit peel. 

i agree.  i don't see too much difference in the two washloads.  whose TV ad was it that did that?  tide?  (did i just date myself?)

then again...my niece likes liquid detergent and she is poorer than i am so maybe i can offload what i have on her and make everybody happy.  great, now i have to make another decision.  i'd better go have a piece of cake first.

[TheMistressT]

I used this recipe for about a year (in a front loading washer) and realized one major problem...

I started to notice that my clothes were losing their shape and becoming *literally* threadbare. My lint trap (after every load) could have been spun into a small blanket.
after a ton of research I discovered that these ingredients need HOT water in order to dissolve properly and not beat up your clothes like sand would.
Then I started making it into a gel formula. This is slightly more time consuming, but the result is much better. (for me, anyway)
You can find that recipe at
http://www.thefamilyhomestead.com/laundrysoap.htm

Keep in mind, you have to stir the gel before every use or it settles.

Hope this was useful!

Oh, and about trying other soaps, anything glycerin based didn't work for me, but I was grating the soap by hand <3

Thanks for this information!  If I washed in hot or warm, I'd never have pants long enough!   

[patty_o_furniture]

I discovered that these ingredients need HOT water in order to dissolve properly and not beat up your clothes like sand would.
 <3

Good to know!  Maybe I'll try Goop Soap next time, lol.

[gerrijo]

No you can't. Fels-Naptha isn't a soap - it's a detergent, which is different.
(http://www.algebralab.org/passage/passage.aspx?file=Chemistry_Soaps.xml for a science lesson )

On the other hand, I do seriously recommend a book called Clean House, Clean Planet by Karen Logan, which has a bunch of cleaners that do use Dr. Bronners. I use her Alice's Wonder Spray for everything. It smells lovely (which is to say it smells like whatever you scent it with), cleans wonderfully, and is really cheap to make.

BTW - I've been using this detergent for a while and have never heard of adding grapefruit. What's it supposed to do?

Excellent to know and thanks for the book recommendation, I will definitely be checking it out

[Momma2FIVEgirls]

A tip for those who are using up their old detergents, keep your containers. I kept mine and my Mom's resulting in about 8 liquid containers and I make 1 huge 5 gallon bucket mondo batch of my "LUV SUDS" as my Gramma calls it, then pour into the old containers. Very easy especially when using liquid, just shake and pour.
I have also made a double batch before, if I knew it'd be a while before I could do more, and it worked out great, (new baby in the house = much less time) Gramma loves it when I do this as she gets some too.

[sgr8hse]

I've been making homemade laundry soap (same recipe) for years, never thought of adding some citrus...what great idea.

Believe me, making homemade laundry soap and other cleaning products is worth the effort, the homemade products work just as well as the store brands, economical and some are environmentally friendly.


Edit: I was going to recommend -Clean House, Clean Planet by Karen Logan but I see some already has...I second the recommendation.

Great job!!! 

[Melazdee]

WOW ! I love that so many people make their own laundry detergent too. Usually when people find out they give me a weird look and my family makes fun of us for it... sad but true
Anyways as someone earlier said, SAVE your old liquid detergent bottles to pour the detergent into (if you make the liquid one which I highly recommend) Its so convenient because you can just shake and pour. Also if you used to use dry soap or just don't have any liquid bottles, use freecycle to get some. I did and the response was overwhelming! Oh and mine are 1.5 gallon bottles..make yours smaller than that or you're gonna have a hard time shaking them. to pour the soap into the bottles, I get my canning funnel (just a wide mouth funnel) and yank out the spout on top of the bottle, stick the funnel on top and then ladle the detergent into the funnel.

Also, the original poster said how much hers cost per ounce which was $.06 but I don't think anyone converted it to a price per load. When I make my soap, I calculated it once, it cost $.73 to make one batch (using the recipe mentioned earlier at http://www.thefamilyhomestead.com/laundrysoap.htm and then I kept track of how many loads I got out of the one batch. I got like 50 or 60! which means the price per load was only like $.01 or $.02 per load! its a huge money saver, and it works great.

If anyone is interested in making other homemade cleaning supplies, I primarily use my "natural 409" which is a mixture of (not 100% on proportions but I think this is right) 1c. lemon juice,  2 c. water, 1c. vinegar and 1/4 c. liquid dishsoap (works SO well because the acids cut through the hard stuck on stuff and the dishsoap cuts the dirt/grime)  and for the dishwasher I use 1 tbs borax, 1 tbs baking soda and a vinegar rinse (I use a timer for 30 min which is when my washer goes on the rinse cycle and then I pour in about a 1/4 c of vinegar or less.)
oh and for any kitchen counter stains or cleaning the bathtub, I use vinegar and baking soda. Spray with diluted vinegar, then sprinkle on baking soda, respray vinegar and scrub after it bubbles.

The laundry soap is how I got started though, it truly is great!

[Miss World]

this is really great! thank you for sharing

[MacesMeMe]

I came back to read now that there is more posts b/c I wanted to see if anyone used with skin problems. My kids mainly DD has bad eczema and I have to buy her Tide Free only which is pretty expensive b/c there is 5 of us. So I think I am going to give the liquid a try.
I saw the Duggar family from TLC making the liquid one too earlier this week, ironic.

Thanks for the Book advice, and Melazdee for her homemade cleaning formula.

And for my little input, I use vinegar in the dishwasher instead of rinse agent stuff, but I only use like every 3 loads or so...

[kleinsch]

I was inspired by all the enthusiasm about homemade laundry soap, so I had to make some!  I finally got all the ingredients (took three stores to find the washing soda), but the actual process was simple and yielded an enormous batch.  I've just done two loads in my front loader, and so far, it's all good!  Everything smells clean, and looks clean. Seems like a winner! 

I agree with previous posters that the Fels-Naptha has a strong odor, although the clean, dry clothes themselves do not bear the scent.  However, the tub containing the laundry soap smells so strongly that it kind of makes me sick when I go near it.  I have a sensitivity to chemical smells; they often give me headaches and make me nauseous.  If anyone else has these tendencies, I would recommend using another brand of soap.  That's just my two cents! 

I don't have sensitive skin, so I can't speak to that issue.  Anyone else have experience with this stuff and sensitive skin?