The Cottage Smallholder

Make your own laundry soap-

To make sure credit is given where it is due, I found this recipe on the blog "The simple dollar", but this is my take on their recipe.

1 bar of laundry soap (Fels-naptha is what I have used and like)
1 box of washing soda
1 box borax
1 5 gal bucket
a measuring cup
something long enough to stir with
a pot big enough to hold 4+ cups of liquid

Start by filling your pot with 4 cups of water and heat this up to just below boiling.

Take a cheese grater and grate your bar of soap into flakes. Add these to your hot water, and stir untill you have a pot of soapy water. Some folks will just grate the soap into water and let it sit overnight.

In your 5 gallon bucket add 3 gallons of water. When your soap mixture is smooth (no lumps, or at least not big ones) add that to your 3 gallons of water. Stir untill it looks like the soap is mixed in.

Add 1 cup of washing soda and stir. (I was thinking very seriously about getting my paint mixer paddle out and attaching it to my drill at this point).

Then add 1/2 cup of borax to your mix and once again stir.
If your mixture is still hot at this point I'd allow it to cool before you use it. It should jell, and look a little odd, but it works really well. I give it a stir again before I use it, or save some empty laundry detergent bottles to store it in (I use empty milk jugs)and give your bottle a good shake before you use it.

After I did the math I found that this makes 104 1/2 cups of laundry soap. (I use 1/2 cup because I have a HE machine.) If you have a conventional machine, you may want to use a full cup. I really like it because using this mix has eliminated the nasty smell that can occur with the HE machines since they are so well sealed. Whites have been staying white but I have to admit I use bleach in my whites so I can't tell you how they would do alone. Smells don't linger, stains I have a doubt about I still pre-treat. As a frame of reference I have hard water.
The best thing about this recipe is the how much it costs. I got out my kitchen scale and did the math. It cost me $1.74 to make 104 loads worth of laundry soap.

Hi Danny,

I bought a snazzy kitchen scale since I started reading Fiona's Blog since she does her recipes by weight vs volume. Here's a great excuse to put it to the test. I put as many different units of measurement as I could come up with. The green is the original unit of measure, follow the column over untill you find a unit you can use.

Laundry Detergent-

3 Gallons of water - 11.35L of water - 12700 g of water

4 cups of water - 33 oz of water - 943g of water

1/2 cup borax - 4 oz of borax - 113 grams of borax

1 cup washing soda - 10 oz of washing soda - 283 g of washing soda

I hope that helps!

Also, here is a link to a conversion calculator that I also used to get some of the measurements. If I didn't list one that you recognize, maybe you can use the site and find one that works for you.

http://www.lenntech.com/calculators/mass-weight/ma.....weight.htm

HE machines are High Efficency machines. They are very popular in the US, and I assumed the world.

They are popular because they use half as much water to wash a load that a regular machine, and the spin cycle is so fast that the clothes come out barely damp when the load is done, so they take less time in the dryer.

The problem is that HE machines are front load instead of top load, so the machines are very well sealed, and can develop a odd smell that get into your laundry. I have been combating this by proping the door open when I'm done washing, and since I have a tendancy to do one big wash every week I make sure that my first load is whites and add 1/2 cup od bleach to the load. It helps with the odor problem and keeps my whites nice. Since I have started making my own detergent the odor in my washer has (almost) gone away. I still keep the door proped open.  

If anyone is having a problem finding the materials to make the laundry soap, I found a site called "soaps gone buy" and they have everything you need to make your own detergent.  If you look at the top of their homepage they have their own recipes and ideas tab at the top for other uses.

http://www.soapsgonebuy.com/

OH! The bar of Fels-Naptha soap I used is 5.5oz. I should have put that in the conversion list too, sorry!

Hi Jane,

Keep us posted about the soap nuts, would you? I'd be very intrested to hear your experence!

Michelle