Hey everyone! So one of the first things that I found on Pinterest to try out was making my own laundry soap. I used to buy the Great Value Wal-Mart brand, but even the generic brand is about $12 for one gallon jug.
Once I found this idea on Pinterest, I knew I had to try it! I made it once a while back and it lasted me quite a while. Then we ran out, and I didn't have a chance to make any more so we ended up going back to buying the overpriced stuff.
I just made some a few nights ago and am planning on making some more tomorrow. I am going to list out the instructions with pictures (some will be added tomorrow after I take them!) so you can see the process.
This idea was originally from Erin @ Why Not Sew? Here is a link to her blog with the instructions I used. Her post has been very popular because of Pinterest so it has a lot of comments. If you have any question about the process or what specific products to use, please refer to the blog comments on her page or contact me so I can find out for you. I have only tried this recipe a few times and so far it has turned out really good. Things can vary though because of different soaps used, temperatures, etc. From the comments, it looks like this detergent is save to use in High Efficiency washers.
Here is the list of ingredients and tools that you need. I use the pot, grater, funnel, spoon, and containers ONLY for making this detergent.
1 bar of soap (any kind you want)
1 cup of Borax
1 cup of washing soda
1 gallon water (to be boiled)1 gallon cold water
a big pot ( that holds more than 2 gallons)
a grater
a funnel
a long spoon
2 empty gallon jugs/containers
For the soap I used Dial because it was cheap, and I got a bar of Fels Naptha because of some of the comments on Erin's blog. It is used for pre-treating stains. When I make my detergent, I grate up about 1/4 of the Fels Naptha bar and then half of the dial bar. Even though they smell completely different, I like the smell of the bars when mixed together.
The Borax, Washing Soda, and Fels Naptha were all right together in the laundry detergent aisle at Walmart. I think the total cost for everything including the tools that you will only need to buy once was about $20. The actual ingredients was probably $6-$10 of that.
For this amount of supplies, the original blogger can make nine batches of this detergent. Each batch makes 2 gallons of soap. If you were to use a half a cup of soap per load, that is 64 loads per batch so 9 batches would be around 576 loads of laundry for $6-$10. That is significant savings compared to my generic brand costing $12 and giving me just enough soap to wash about 32 loads.
Here is the picture of all my ingredients:
I don't have the in between pictures as I am making the detergent, but I will be sure to add that after I make some more! Until then, I will be using her pictures.
First you will want to grate your soap into the pot. Her recipe calls for 1 bar of soap. I use half of one type of bar and 1/4 of another. If your detergent gets too thick, you can use only half a bar. I promise this is soap and not grated cheese!
Fill one of your gallon jugs with water and pour it into the pot. Cook it until the grated soap dissolves completely. This step can take a while, but it is fine to let it sit and simmer, just stir it every once in a while.
Add once cup of borax and one cup of washing soda to the liquid and let it boil. It will coagulate. When I make mine, it doesn't seem to coagulate very much but you can notice it getting a little thicker. I think the times I have made this, I let it boil too long which results in it being way to thick at the end. You can let it boil for probably 5 minutes as long as you notice it getting thicker.
Turn off the heat and fill the other gallon jug with cold water and add it to the pot, making sure to stir well.
At this point she recommends to pour the detergent into your gallon jugs using a funnel and let them sit overnight. I usually let it sit in the pot overnight and then in the morning I stir it to get rid of the clumps and then add it to my containers. Both times I have done it this way and have made a royal mess. I would recommend pouring the detergent into the containers before you let it sit overnight.
The 3rd and 4th batches I put it in my containers to let it coagulate and it was MUCH easier to do. Please learn from my mistakes and do it this way!
After 24 hours, it will coagulate, and you will have to shake up the bottle so it isn't so thick. Normally, I have to shake the bottle before each use.
You can use as much detergent as you want for each load. If you use around a half a cup per load, this batch should give you enough detergent for 64 loads.
On a side note, if you want to get the labels off your milk containers, while the detergent is still hot, it will be really easy to peel the stickers off. Then take a little bit of nail polish remover and a cotton ball and rub off the stickiness.
Here is my final product:
