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Laundry Soap

I'm sure you've heard all about making your own laundry soap.

It's a novelty.

Well, a novelty these days!

Normally you think of tree-hugging, nut-eating, broom-stick skirt wearing, Birkenstock shoe wearing people as the only ones who would be interested in such.

Not that trees, nuts, broom stick skirts and Birkenstock shoes are bad .  . . but sometimes when they're all put together; well, you know!

Back to the laundry soap making . . .

it's kind of coming back in style to be "in control" of things!
That's probably because the things we need to be in control of  we aren't, so we're choosing random things to "take control of" so that we feel better about being out of control.

Wow!

I think that might be a deep thought to contemplate!

Do I hear rhythmic snapping and "cool man" in the background?

I have been making  my own laundry soap for several months now.

It is cheaper.

But I'm not so sure that it's a huge savings that I'm really able to see in my pocket book.

I've been making it for two; count them . . .two reasons!

  1. The homemade stuff really does clean.  Truth!  My first try out was on stained baseball uniforms . . . and it got the dirt out; untreated!  Now, for true confession:  I still pre-treat because you know my laundry neurosis and I can't stand baseball pants to not be stark white.
  2. It's not hard to do!  I was already adding some of these ingredients to my pre-made, store-bought laundry detergent to "boost" it's power -- so I decided since I'm adding it, why don't I just make my own with it in it.  Made sense to me!
There you go . . .that's my reasons!

Once I got my big batch made, I just bought the ingredients for one batch to have on hand.  When I use about half of my detergent, I add to it with the ingredients I have on hand, then I resupply my stash and it works like clockwork.

Homemade Laundry Soap


1 box Borax


1 box Washing Soda


1-2 bars Zote, grated


1 bar Fels-Naptha, grated

In a large container (I actually line a bathroom trashcan with a trash bag pour the ingredients into it so that I can tie it shut and shake it up to mix it around before pouring it into my box).  Pour the borax and washing soda together and stir around.  Add the grated bars and begin to mix (or shake).  Pour into storage container.

Use 2 TBSP to 4 TBSP per load, depending on size and amount of soil.

You can add essential oil to the wash water when adding the detergent, if you prefer. 

Also, this laundry soap does not make suds, as you might expect, but do not let that scare you.  It's really cleaning!

**HINT:  to grate the bars, I warm them in the microwave for about 15-20 seconds to soften just a bit before grating.  I also grate on the large and small hole side of the grater as well as the "slicer" because I like some larger pieces of soap in my mix.

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