Poll on laundry soap

[BarkerChickens]

Thank y'all for your recipes and advice! DH has been saying (for a few years now!) that he wants us to make our own laundry detergent. Neither of us have really looked up the recipe for it though. Now that I have it, my next batch of laundry detergent will be homemade!!!

As for the SoCal shopping issue mentioned in a previous post, check out a Mexican grocery store like Cardenas or Vallarta. They carry a lot of these products and they're usually cheaper than more popular grocery stores. Plus, several of them make homemade tortillas right there in the store. Fresh, warm tortillas!!

 

[eggs4sale]

Well, I finally ran out of my home-made laundry soap. It lasted over two months and was a not quite full Folger's coffee can of the dry powder. I did use the Tide on DH's clothes just because we have it, but I used the home-made on everything else. It has worked wonderfully. No gunking up at all, but I do add it first and let the water bubble it a little. Almost all loads were done with cold water, whether I liked it or not.

The recipe I used was:

2 cups Arm and Hammer washing soda
2 cups borax
1/2 a bar of fels-naptha (grated cheese size, not fine)
1 cup of Oxi-Clean powder (because it was on clearance)
1 cup of table salt (because we have hard water despite water softener)

I'd use a small scoop at a time, maybe 2 tablespoons? Less then 1/2 the amount of Tide I normally would have used.

My clothes do not come out 'soft', but then they don't with the Tide, or even with liquid fabric softener. But they don't stand up by themselves so it's not unbearable.

So, kudos to you SS people! You impressed me!

 

[Farmfresh]

It seems to me they get softer after you use the homemade detergent for a while. Maybe that is just my perception. I do not hang mine to dry just use a dryer so that may make a difference as well.

 

[eggs4sale]

It seems to me they get softer after you use the homemade detergent for a while. Maybe that is just my perception. I do not hang mine to dry just use a dryer so that may make a difference as well.

I use a dryer, too. I just think our water is extraordinarily hard. But then when I lived at home, my sister always had fuzzy soft clothes and mine were as hard as they are now. I just figured that was because she is a vile witch of a creature who had made a deal with the devil to get soft clothes.

 

[Farmfresh]

Hopefully you will not feel the need to go to that extreme!

 

[miss_thenorth]

I just made my third batch. Mine seems to last about a year. (I make alot at once.

I am very happy with it still, and my whites are still white.

8 cups washing soda
8 cups borax
4 cups colour safe bleach
4 bars of laundry soap.
I use my food processor with the smallest grating blade, then use the metal blade and mix the grated soap in with the powdered stuff to get the soap very fine. I will not ever go back to store bought. I get a years worth of soap for under $20.

 

[eggs4sale]

A pack of 24 bars of Fels-Naptha is on Amazon.com for $35.39
+ $5.70shipping, sold by Ace Hardware. This requires math which I will not attempt because it's too early in the morning to be so light-headed.

Hey, there's a listing on Amazon for 24 bars for $26.97
+ $4.96 shipping fulfilled my Ozbo.

I ain't no genius, but that one sounds like a better deal.

 

[savingdogs]

1. What is your favorite homemade laundry soap recipe?
We use a liquid version of the Fels naptha soap recipe but our proportions are a little different. We use one bar of soap, grated up fine, mixed with one gallon of boiling water until melted. Then you add one cup of borax and one cup of the Arm and Hammer Washing Soda and stir it up, and then add enough water to fill your five gallon bucket.

We do alot of laundry and it saves us alot of money.


2. What is your least favorite homemade laundry soap recipe? We only tried this one and love it. We started out using 1/2 bar of the fels naptha but found we really liked its smell so we upped it to one whole bar.


3. What is your favorite store-bought laundry soap? We used to use Tide liquid


4. Have you ever had any of these gunk up or damage your washing machine? No


5. Have you converted friends and family to your choice of laundry soap?
Not yet but we probably will.

We did not like all the additives in the laundry soap because we have allergies. Also the low sudsing is good for our HE washer. Overall we are very pleased with our soap recipe. We do not mind having a big five gallon container next to our washer, we just re fill a smaller container for daily use to make it easier.

We also use this to wash our dishes in our dishwasher and it works well for this too. I have also washed dishes with it in a pinch although it is a little harsh on your hands.

 

[kcsunshine]

Welcome Dunegan Mountain Arin from East Tennessee

 

[Farmfresh]

Welcome Dunegan Mountain Arin to Sufficient Self!

I personally use a dry version of laundry detergent that I make with my own homemade lye soap as the base.

1 cup grated basic soap *
1 cup borax (20 mule team)
1 cup washing soda
cup baking soda

I process the soap with the borax in a blender or food processor and then add rest of the dry ingredients. 2 T to a wash load.