Homemade Laundry Soap for Dummies

If you're here, it's probably because you have been thinking about making your own laundry soup, but you just haven't done it yet.  Maybe you've heard your friends talking about it, but you're not sure it's right for you.  You know all about how inexpensive it is, how great it works, and how gentle it is on sensitive skin.  But maybe you don't know where to start.  Maybe you think you don't have time.  I am here to put your fears to rest.  I am quite possibly the world's laziest and most incompetent homemaker, but even I can make homemade laundry soap!  If I can do it, you can do it!  So let's get started!

First thing you'll need to do is take a trip to the store and get:

a box of Washing Soda
a box of Borax Detergent
a bar of Fels-Naptha soap

You will find them in the same isle that you buy your normal laundry detergent.  These things are super easy to spot and will all be sitting right next to each other on the same shelf.  They are also super cheap.  You'll spend about $8 on your first batch, but you will have lots of left over Borax and Washing Soda, so your next batches will only cost about $1 each (or the cost of a bar of Fels-Naptha).  Basically you'll pay the same amount of money you might pay for a medium bucket of laundry soap, but you'll get a big bucket of soap.  And every bucket after that will just  keep getting cheaper.

 

Now let's gather up some supplies. 

You need: a five gallon bucket (basically any old laundry soap bucket will do, or you can get one at your local hardware store for less than $5), a one cup measuring cup, a long stirring spoon (or a paint stir stick), serrated knife or cheese grater, and a medium sauce pan.

 

Start by grating the soap into a fine powder.  The soap is super soft and really easy to grate by hand with a serrated knife.  Or if you prefer you can use a cheese grater.  I don't own a cheese grater, and I'm too lazy to use a knife, so I just toss it into my food processor.  It will come out looking like grated cheese.  At this point one of your kids will wander into the kitchen and try to pop a handful of shredded cheese into their mouths. You should stop them, but I won't judge you if you don't.  Pour the powder (or the chunks in my case) into a sauce pan, and fill the pan about half full of water.  Put the pan on the stove and heat it on low.

Stir constantly while the soap is melting.  It will seem like it is taking forever.  After several minutes you will want to check and make sure that you have the correct burner turned on.  Once you have moved the pan to the hot burner, continue stirring for about three minutes while you wait for the soap to dissolve.  You don't want it to get too hot or the soap will get clumpy. So keep it on low and be patient. At this point your husband will walk in and ask what's for dinner, and you'll growl, "Do you smell what The ROCK is cookin'?"

 

Once the soap is dissolved (or you just get tired of waiting...) pour the pan full of soapy water into your big bucket.  Add 1 cup Washing Soda and 1 cup Borax, and mix it all together.  Add 4 more gallons of water.  Mix it again.

 

That's it.  Now you have cheese soup! Oops! I mean... now you have laundry detergent!  Isn't it beautiful? It will thicken as it sits. When you want to use it, stir it first to mix up all the stuff that has settled to the bottom.Then scoop a cup full into the wash. 

 

 

Warning, do not think you can pour this into your old liquid laundry soap jug for easy dispensing.  You can not do this.  It is way too chunky and it will just plug the hole and frustrate you. Trust me.





 

That's it!  That's all there is to it.  Does it sound too hard?  Maybe I explained it wrong.  Let me sum up: Chop up a bar of soap.

Melt it in a pan of water.

Pour it into a bucket.

Add a cup of Washing Soda and a cup of Borax.

Fill the bucket up with water.

Mix.

Enjoy.

 

There are a million things I like about making my own laundry soap.  It is super cheap!  It smells really good!  It is gentle on my kids' super sensitive skin!  I can buy a year's worth of soap supplies for about $15 and it hardly takes up any space on my laundry room shelf! And it is even great for high efficiency washers!

 

If you're still not convinced that homemade laundry soap is the thing for you, I'll make you a deal. I'll make all your laundry soap for you, and you can come to my house and fold all my laundry for me. ;)

 

Good luck!

 

 

Marcia

 



P.S.  Sometimes I'm too lazy to make my laundry soap.  I've got all the supplies sitting there, but I just don't want to take ten minutes and mix it up.  So I just keep a bar of Fels-Naptha on the shelf above my washer along with a knife.  I toss a load in the machine and just hand grate a little soap into the wash.  Then I sprinkle in a dash of Borax and a pinch of Washing Soda, and I'm good to go!