Homemade Laundry Soap

I got interested in learning about making my own laundry soap when I developed a rash after switching to a new popular brand of laundry detergent. The more I read about phosphates and the chemicals in these detergents, the more I see the damage they are doing to our environment and to our bodies. Also they are expensive when compared to buying safer environmentally friendly ingredients and making your own version.

I found this recipe by googling "homemade laundry soap" and I bought these ingredients and set to work.

First step is to take the hard bar soap and cut into chunks.

Then add the half the chunks to your food processor and pour in about a fourth of the box of washing powder.

You can also use a cheese grater and manually shave the soap into tiny slivers, but it's much easier and faster to use the blender. By adding the granular powder to the hard soap it will blend very nicely and make a powder of the hard soap that won't clump in the washing machine. I did this in two batches. This is what it looks like coming out of the blender:

You then add the rest of the ingredients and use a large wooden spoon to blend everything together. Store in a container with a lid, and it only takes 1/2 scoop for a large load of laundry.

The entire amount of ingredients was less than $30 and it will last at least a year for me. It is also suitable for the newer HE washers because of the low sudsing factor. One large container of Tide's Free & Gentle does 64 loads and costs $22. And the only claim it has to "free and gentle" is that it has no perfumes or dyes. Woo Hoo, thank you, Tide!

After I made this batch I've researched further and some people recommend not using Fel-Naptha soap, but rather a coconut based natural soap. There are even recipes online such as this one:

link to soap recipe

And you can omit the Downy Unstoppables and use some natural scented oils like lavender instead. That's one thing that's great about making your own, you get to choose your ingredients.

It really only took about 15 minutes from start to finish to make this soap. In fact, it took longer to write this blog about it! And since I ordered these products online and had them delivered, I had a nice batch of cardboard, including the soap boxes, to break down and take to the local recycling center! The nice plastic OxiClean container I washed and now it holds crayons and markers for the grandkids.

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[credit@EdibleCthulhu]