Wednesday, December 23, 2009

Home made liquid laundry soap



Hello all! I have not blogged about Hippie cleaning for a while, so I thought I would walk you through making laundry soap.  I am dangerously low, so today I NEED to make it. Cloth diapers+no laundry soap=FAIL! The recipe is the basic one found all over the internet. I have played with it a little and have a recipe that I think works best with cloth diapers to get them clean and smelling nice, as well as everyday laundry and eliminates the need for fabric softener, which I am allergic to!

Supplies:
1 bar Fels Naptha or Ivory soap (I like the smell of the Fels better!)
1 cup Super Washing Soda
1 cup Borax
1 vinegar
water
1 cup measure
1 small pan
wooden spoon
hammer or grater
cookie sheet
5 gallon bucket
laundry soap container
funnel


either grate or smash the bar of soap. I like to beat it with the hammer on a cookie sheet, it's more fun! Crumble it up with yous hands. I like to take out a Tablespoon of the soap and mix in a spray bottle of HOT water for a stain spray.


Put the crumbled soap in a pan with 2 cups water on medium heat and stir till melted. You need to babysit it a little, be patient.


While this is melting, fill the 5 gallon bucket half full of HOT water and add 1 cup Borax, 1 cup Super Washing Soda, and 1 cup vinegar and stir to dissolve.


Once soap is melted, pour into bucket and top off with HOT water, stir. Snap lid onto bucket and you have laundry soap concentrate! When ready to use open bucket and stir well, it will gel up a bit, and dilute 1:1 with water in your dispenser. I use a 2 liter bottle with the bottom cut off to pour the concentrate and water into my dispenser.


 Use about 1/4 cup per load, I use a little more for diaper laundry. The vinegar naturally softens the laundry and I use no fabric softener, although I will spray a little vinegar water on it if it is way static-y and tumble it a few more minutes. Once it dries it will not smell like vinegar, I promise.
I never really paid attention to how long this lasts, but I will this time. Between our laundry, diaper laundry, and washing towels for the grooming shop I do a minimum of 3 loads a day. Happy laundry!
H.W.

3 comments:

Bridgett said...

Thank you for this. I've been contemplating making my own laundry soap for awhile now...this has inspired me.

)O(
boo

Unknown said...

It is really worth making! I do a rinse with Borax then wash my 7 month olds diapers in it and they do not smell AT ALL! Makes our clothes nice and soft also.

Kelsey the Ewok said...

Thank you for this post and the one about chemical-free cleaning! My mom refuses to go without her bleach, laundry detergent and other nasty chemicals and I hate it! I have very sensitive skin and the smells irritate my nose and throat really bad! Now I'll have great alternative when I grow up and move out!

Blessed Be,
Kelsey

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