We have a family of five....a.k.a....a make work project. And what do they like to make the most of? Dirty Laundry, or course!
So I decided to go hunting for a laundry soap recipe that would cost less than any liquid soap I could buy, even when on sale. I thought "laundry is enough work, let alone making the soap I use". But making this soap is simple, and depending on how quickly you drink a coffee, and how large your mug is, you can be finished before you need a refill (my cup holds 12 oz...)
All you need is:
A large pot ( 9-10 litre)
a cheese grater
long handled spoon
measuring cup
funnel (wide mouth is better than what I chose)
The ingredients should be at your local grocery store.
(I live near a small town, and they had them all)
1 cup Washing Soda
1 cup Borax
1 bar of soap (choose what you like)
2 gallons of water
Start by grating your soap. I chose Yardley Oatmeal & Almond because it is my favourite.
I like to air dry quite a few of my own clothes, so I wanted to make sure that I smelled like Yardley soap, which clearly was more of a priority to me than worrying about my husband going to work smelling like a classy, victorian lady.
Next, just slip that soap into 1 gallon of water in your pot.
Keep a nice heat to dissolve the soap, stirring as you go (this is when your going to want to have that coffee).
Next add:
1 cup Washing Soda
1 cup Borax
This is going to thicken up pretty quickly so have a second gallon of water ready to pour in once all your soaps seem to be dissolved. Once dissolved, bring to a boil then turn off the heat and add your second gallon of water.
I just used a 1 gallon milk jug (that was cleaned throughly, before I put soap in it....as it were...
Once you've stirred this really well, you can leave it sit until it's cooled enough that you can bottle it. There will be some foamy soap that will rest on top. Instead of trying to incorporate it into the rest of the recipe, I just skimmed it, and used it in a load of laundry.
Then when you go to bottle it, you may find a section at the top is firm"ish"...just whisk it into the rest of the batch, and save yourself from having lumpy soap.
I kept a plastic dish pan under my bottles to catch any overflow and "volun-told" my son to help with steading the funnel. Since boys (of all ages) seem to love stuff that looks like slime, so it didn't take much convincing.
You'll need 1/2 cup of soap per load, and with this much, (I didn't include a picture of my less attractive storage jug) finishing with just over 2 gallons of liquid laundry soap, so I should be good for a while. It smells wonderful, and seems to work beautifully. I'm committed to the task of making laundry soap, and saving money!
