Laundry soap...

[TanksHill]

Thanks!!!!!!

 

[TanksHill]

Ok, so I tried to make my laundry detergent today. First off. Melting the soap took way longer than I ever anticipated and I still had lumps. I think I might have left a few. How big a pan do you use to melt? The pink Zote bar I used was huge and grated into like 6 or more cups of soap. I ended up stirring for like a half an hour.

iI also used the baking soda instead of washing soda. I just re read this thread. Am I going to have consistency issues???

If I choose to make another batch i the dry form what happens to the bar soap. Just it just mix in? I have a bunch of Ivory soap bars my son has been practicing whittling on for cub scouts. I had him save the pieces for the laundry. So I plan to use those for the dry batch.

Any advice on that?
Well its done, so I guess I will see what we end up with tomorrow.

 

[freemotion]

I cut my bars with a knife into biggish crumbs, then added the borax and washing soda and ran it through my food processer to make it really fine. I gave that to a friend with a high-efficiency washer and she said it works great....I gave her the recipe and instructions with it, so another convert!

It did take longer than expected to melt, but then I used a whisk and that helped a LOT. The soap bits tend to float, where the water is cooler. Whisking keeps them in the hotter water, it seems, and they melt a lot faster.

 

[TanksHill]

Ok, I think the lg bucket will be fine. I used the recipe that someone had posted from the Duggar's website. Next tim I will use a larger pan for more surface to fire contact and a whisk.

My soap bits are all ready pretty small. the Ivory was whittled sown to almost nothing by my ds. I'll mix some dry up tomorrow.

Thanks, gina

 

[Beekissed]

I get the best consistency from my liquid soap when I forget it on the stove and it boils over..... I never have soap clumps left using this very scientific method.

 

[breconbcs]

I just made my first small batch on Friday using the dry method. I cut the bar of soap up into smaller pieces and then used an old coffee grinder to make it into smaller pieces. Seems to be working well. I've done laundry all weekend and everyone has been happy with the results - my ds comented on how nice smelling his clothes are, so I've made another small batch yesterday as I only had 1 bar of soap to use to show everyone how easy it was to make up. Next time around will be a big batch.

Hubby is not sold on the idea (cost effectiveness), so I'm keeping track of how much everything costs, how many batches I can make and how many loads I can do over the next while till I use up the boxes of washing soda and borax. Then I'll do the math and show him the results. If my estimates are right (i think they may be low) we will be saving roughly $28 a month on laundry soap alone - not including the bottle my 17 yr old son uses in a month on his own clothes. He's not on board at all with anything we are trying - but he loves to eat what I'm making. He just doesn't understand or care (it's that me, me, me attitude right now) and he has been told if he doesn't like it, buy his own. He really didn't like that idea.

 

[Wifezilla]

I made powdered soap without the washing soda. I used Oxyclean instead. After stopping at 3 different stores that normally carry pool stuff looking for sodium carbonate and not finding any, I gave up......for now.

I have done 2 loads using 2tbsp of soap. So far so good!

I tried to find a homemade dishwasher soap recipe. Tried one and now I have a load of dishes covered in white film. Arg! Back to Cascade Complete for me until I find something else.

 

[miss_thenorth]

I just made my first small batch on Friday using the dry method. I cut the bar of soap up into smaller pieces and then used an old coffee grinder to make it into smaller pieces. Seems to be working well. I've done laundry all weekend and everyone has been happy with the results - my ds comented on how nice smelling his clothes are, so I've made another small batch yesterday as I only had 1 bar of soap to use to show everyone how easy it was to make up. Next time around will be a big batch.

Hubby is not sold on the idea (cost effectiveness), so I'm keeping track of how much everything costs, how many batches I can make and how many loads I can do over the next while till I use up the boxes of washing soda and borax. Then I'll do the math and show him the results. If my estimates are right (i think they may be low) we will be saving roughly $28 a month on laundry soap alone - not including the bottle my 17 yr old son uses in a month on his own clothes. He's not on board at all with anything we are trying - but he loves to eat what I'm making. He just doesn't understand or care (it's that me, me, me attitude right now) and he has been told if he doesn't like it, buy his own. He really didn't like that idea.

I started out making the liquid. More work--nwasn't happy with the results. Switched to a small batch of the powdered. I starteed with liquid first, b/c regular powder didn't dissolve in my washer, so I figured that the same would be true with home made. Home made worked great, so I next made a big batch using the whole boxes, and adjusted the bars of soap accordingly. I may have spend $15 (borax $1.79, washing soda, same price, bars of soap, same price x I think 8 (not sure), colour safe bleach, $1.79. I made it on Sept 1 2008, and I am only half done that big batch at 2-4 tbsp per load. I figure I will get a years worth of laundry washed for $15, whereas, if Ibought laundry detergent, I was buying it for about that amount, every month.

so coming from an admittedly cheap (frugal) dutch gal--the cost savings is enormous. I add more powder for white loads, and have not noticed my whites any dingier than they were before.

 

[TanksHill]

Cost is my main motivation. I normally buy the free he liquid in a jug. Even on sale it runs about 13 bucks a jug. It's crazy!! I do at least two loads of wash a day. If my ingredients I purchased last more than a month I am already saving big. The supplies I bought to make my laundry soap cost less than 10.00 and last night I made a 5 gallon bucket. With almost nothing. It's kinda a no brain-er. We just need to see how is cleans and make sure the kids don't itch. That's my biggest worry,

breconbcs......As for your teenager. He may say he doesn't care but I remember every word my mother spoke during those years. And find myself repeating them to my children. Even though I pretended not to listen.

 

[Wifezilla]

My cost for the dry was

Zote: $1
Cheap Oxyclean Knock Off from the dollar store: $1 16oz
Borax: $1 (1/3 of box)

So $3 for a rather large pile of soap. I just scooped it in to another container to see how many loads. 56.

So 5.4 per load

I think the last bottle of Purex I bought was over $4 and did 32 loads. Even if it was only $4, that is still 12.5/load