I was shown an article a few weeks ago about how to make your own laundry soap, and save a ton of money. I, personally, am always excited when I find new ways to save money on things that we buy on a monthly basis [laundry soap and fabric softener are definitely 2 of those things]
I was immediately against it, I've had a hard time with soaps and my washer in the past...one expensive duvet cover + cheap soap = a green and tan spotted waste of money.
But, after some thinking, and re-reading of the instruction article [yes, you can make your own 3 gallons of laundry soap for under $20] I figured, what the hell, right? If it sucks, then at least I can say that we tried.
So, without any further ado; Make Your Own Laundry Soap.
Ingredients:
Most of these items can be found in the laundry aisle of your grocery store. If you happen to shop at WalMart, all of these items are literally stocked next to each other in the laundry aisle.
1 4lb box of Borax
1 4lb box of Arm & Hammer Baking Soda
1 3lb box of Arm & Hammer Super Wash Soda
1 3lb tub of OxyClean powder
2 bottle of Purex Crystals fabric softener [not required, but totally recommended if you want fabric softener and detergent in one batch]
3 bars of Fels Naptha soap [or Zote Soap if you can find it]
You'll also need:
A storage tub and a cheese grater.
Directions:
1. Grate the bars of Fels Naptha [or Zote Soap] using the cheese graters second to largest edge. The article said to use the small side, and I tried that, but you end up wasting more than half the soap trying to grate the soap using the small side, I had no problems with the bigger side and the grating part didn't take long at all, and it kind of looks like shredded cheese when you're done.
2. Start layering all of your ingredients a little at a time into the bucket or storage tub, and mixing together thoroughly. I used a wooden pasta spoon and it worked really well.
Once you've layered and mixed everything together, you're done! Just make sure that you clean up really well where you were layering the materials, as the soap will make the floor really slick, and if you're like me, you won't think about it until after you fall on your arse, lol.
Don't be surprised or nervous when you use this soap and it doesn't foam up like store bought ones, the lack of foam doesn't mean that it's not working, just that you won't get build up of foam slime anywhere in your machine.
It works just as well, if not better than anything you can buy in the store, and for homemade soap, the stuff really does smell amazing.
Either way you slice it, for less than $20, that's a LOT of laundry soap.
We are storing ours in a big cylinder tub, but I'll also filled the old oxyclean tub for easy access. You can also use [and I recommend using] the Purex Crystals jugs, as the tops have a measuring spoon built in, because, get this....you only need 2 Tbsp PER LOAD...yep... 2 TABLESPOONS of this soap per load [that's the second line on the Purex Crystals cap in case you're wondering]
The above pictures have the Purex Crystals cap filled to the 3rd line. Whoops.
Well, there it is. Homemade laundry soap that cleans well, smells good and won't break your bank. Plus, if you're anything like me, you'll love it for no other reason than that you made it yourself.
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