it cost $.73 to make one batch using the recipe here [www.thefamilyhomestead.com] which is roughly 50 -60 loads per batch which means the price per load is only like $.01 or $.02 per load.

i saw a recipe for powder soap too but apparently it wears your clothes out faster because it's like washing them in sand, dissolved soap is more gentle. let me know if anyone tries this!

coco

Can I take it from this post that you have made & are using this laundry soap??..If so, how do you like it??..

Back in 1998 I made bar soap from scratch with olive oil & lye purchased from the hardware store..I've still got all the equipment except for a digital postage scale, which is needed to accurately weigh the ingredients, especially the lye..It was a fascinating thing to do..What I did not know in 1998 is that for a soap that is made with lye to be as mild as possible requires aging the soap for a year or so..As a result of not being aged, my bars of soap turned out somewhat harsh..

For whatever reasons, laziness I suppose, I have not tried making soap again..I should borrow a scale & make a batch..

In the meantime, I'm definitely going to make a batch of this semi-gel laundry soap & see how it compares to the BioPac liquid laundry detergent I've been using for the past 18 months or so..

Bruce

bruce, i'm going to make it this week when i get to the store (one town over) for some of the ingredients. the girls on my crafty site who use it though swear by it and i trust them. one girl did a side by side stain comparison with it and reg. soap to show us how they both performed on a few kinds of tough stains. i didn't see much of a difference and that was with no pre-treating or hand washing so there ya go.
i prefer unscented everything so this really appeals to me. i'll let you know what i think when i've made up a batch.

one thing the girls are saying is to save your plastic liquid soap containers to fill up with this stuff. you have to give it a shake each time and the 1 or 1.5 gallon containers with a handle and a pour spout work great. one girl said she asked around for containers and got LOADS of them, she makes up double batches at a time and just stores it. seems like a great idea. at that price i might make it up for my friends and neighbours too, if i can get them hooked we'll all be saving money and resources, woo hoo!

oh okay cool coco

cuz the other bio soaps i've been using eco soaps that are good but not cheap

its good to be able to be independent, save money and have fun making ones own

i love making things that are eEASY LOL

crafts look difficult

soap doesn't seem as hard

coco

If I can find the bar soap at my local Giant grocery store today I'm going to be making a batch later this afternoon..I have a single clear 1-gallon jug that's empty that the Bio-Pac detergent came in, & I'll just transfer the white vinegar in it's clear 1-gallon jug into other containers so as to free up a second jug..

I'm already using both the Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda and the 20 Mule Team Borax as laundry boosters with the Bio-Pac detergent, so I have plenty of both already on hand..

If this recipe works out as well as your friends say it does, then I'll be as happy as a pig in a mud wallow..

Bruce

but a little bit cleaner

i have some sunlight bar soap in the laundry room that i'm going to use but the recipe does say that you can use homemade soap too, so long as it's super unfatted. i think most homemade soap has a lot of fat (oil) in it though, that's one of the things people like about it. i use the sunlight bar for pre-treating sometimes, it works really well so i expect it'll be good in this recipe. i'm going to ask my mom to bring me any empty laundry jugs she has at home, she always buys it in those so she might have a few. i should have some soap made up in the next week or so, hope it goes well!

I could not find the Fels Naptha soap at my local grocery store..They used to carry it, but no longer..I could order a case, which would give me enough Fels Naptha bar soap to make batches of the laundry soap that would last for at least a decade..I purchased the plain Ivory bar soap..I went ahead & made up a batch of the laundry soap per the instructions on the End Times Report website in coco's first post..

Googling Fels Naptha soap brings up a wealth of sites, many of which have similar recipes to the one above..One thing that stands out from reading these recipes is that almost everyone is recommending using considerably more of a generally more concentrated home-made laundry soap mixture than the one coco has provided the link for..I know that with the Bio-Pac liquid laundry detergent that I've been using that I can cut the manufacturer's recommendations pretty much in half & still get clean clothes..

My feelings are that the recommendations from the manufacturers for the amount of their detergent for washing clothes are generally tailored to worst-case scenarios..Which, a lot of the time results in both wasting the detergent & having "clean" clothing with a heavy detergent residue in it..

I'm going to do laundry tomorrow, so I'll report back on the results..

Bruce

OK

So I put in the first tub of laundry using the homemade laundry soap per the recipe in coco's first post..I washed sheets, pillowcases, towels, wash cloths, & dish towels..

I'll post my variation on the recipe below..I used an accurate kitchen scale that weighs in grams or ounces to measure the bar soap & powders..

In a 3 qt. saucepan I placed:

60g (2/3's of a bar) plain Ivory soap, grated on the coarse holes of a box grater
6 cups of hot tap water

The grated bar soap & tap water were heated over medium heat, stirring occasionally with a whisk, until all of the soap dissolved into the water..I then removed the saucepan from the heat & stirred in:

150g (1/2 cup) Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda
80g (1/2 cup) 20 Mule Team Borax powder

After 30 seconds or so the laundry powders dissolve & the entire mixture becomes thicker, similar to honey's consistency..When the powders were dissolved I measured 4 cups of hot tap water into a 2.5 gallon plastic bucket..I then poured & scraped the hot mixture into the bucket & stirred it well with the whisk..I then added the 22 cups (1 gallon, plus 6 cups) of lukewarm tap water, stirring after each addition..I then decanted the mixture into two 1-gallon & one 1/2-gallon clear plastic jugs leaving plenty of space to shake the mixture; as the original recipe suggests..I then capped the jugs & placed them in the basement on the shelf above the washer along with the rest of the laundry products..

This morning the mixture was indeed "soupy"..It was kind of like egg drop soup in that there were globules of thicker & whiter soap floating amongst the slightly clearer liquid..Kind of gelatinous..

If you were to make this soap & not to add the extra 22 cups of water, as most of the other Fels Naptha laundry soap recipes that I perused on the web suggested; this soap would in all likelihood end up as a thick gel that could be scooped..Probably somewhat like thick cake batter..

When I added the recommended 1/2 cup of the soap to the washer to start the first tub of laundry there were indeed virtually no suds produced as the water rushed into the washer's tub & mixed with the soap..Because I'm a hard-headed kind of guy, I added a tablespoon of the washing soda to the tub so that I could see some suds..

I'll report back later today after I finish the other 3 tubs of laundry..I promise not to add anything to the other tubs so I can get a realistic appraisal of just how effective this home-made laundry soap is compared to the Bio-Pac detergent I've been using..

Bruce

Can you get soapnuts in the US, they are very effective for washing laundry and completely natural.

[www.inasoapnutshell.com]

Soapnuts are to be my next experiment as far as laundry is concerned..They are available in the USA, but at widely varying prices..I'm on a strict budget right now, so I'm not willing to spend the money to purchase them..I want to purchase a large amount at the best possible price so I can experiment with them..My only concern is that they are not native to North America..So, from a green perspective, read the number of calories required to transport them to the East coast of the United States from where they are grown, they do not appear to be an ecological choice for me..Still & all, I'd like to try them out to gain a different perspective from what I now know..

Bruce

So, I'm now on my third tub of laundry today using the home-made, semi-gel laundry soap that I made up yesterday afternoon..So far, I can discern no appreciable difference in cleaning power between the home-made laundry soap & the commercially-manufactured Bio-Pac liquid laundry detergent..

If this works out over the long run, as it seems that it might, it will reduce my per tub detergent costs considerably..

It also seems to have even further eliminated detergent odors in my freshly washed clothes..Although the Bio-Pac is billed as being non-allergenic & scent-free, it still left a faint,but discernible, smell in anything washed in it ..

Bruce

Bruce thanks so much for being our gineau pig and trying this out an letting us know .. now i wanna go out an get soap making stuff !!

i especially like the idea of no scents ...i cant stand the smell of commerical stuff !

...Jodi, the banana eating buddhist

that is so terrific! thanks so much for the feedback. i have a ride to the store again this weekend so i'll make some up myself and check it out too. that's so cool that it works well, i'm excited about that!

Well, I've done 6 tubs of laundry with the newly created laundry soap..So far I'm pleased with the results..I do, however, want to make the next batch with the Fels Naptha bar soap instead of the Ivory bar soap..Some of the web sites I visited recommended rubbing the Fels Naptha bar soap onto stains as a pre-wash stain removal technique..So, I'd like to try it for removing stubborn stains, as well as in the liquid laundry soap recipe..

Bruce

Bumping this thread..

Has anyone else made & used this recipe for laundry soap??..

After doing 12 or so tubs of laundry I can state with certainty that I am quite happy with the results from using this laundry soap recipe..

After doing further research on the Fels Naptha bar soap that is recommended in the Family Homestead link that coco provided in her OP; I have come to the conclusion that my substitution of Ivory bar soap for the Fels Naptha bar soap will be how I make this recipe in the future..

The Fels Naptha soap has benzine & other petrochemical ingredients in it that I do not wish to expose myself to..Both Octagon bar soap, & Fels Naptha bar soaps contain petrochemical ingredients, wheras the Ivory bar soap does not..

It will be interesting to see how the olive oil & lye bar soap that I am going to make sometime in the near future will perform in this recipe, as compared to the commercially-made Ivory bar soap..

Come on everybody!!..Purchase some of your favorite bar soap & a box each of the washing soda & the boraxo powders, and whip up a batch of this laundry soap!!..Remember, this will reduce your chemical costs per load of laundry to almost nothing compared to purchasing commercially made laundry detergents..

I estimate it took me less than 10 minutes, start-to-finish, to make this recipe..

A 12-pack of Ivory bar soap (which you should be able to purchase at a discount during one of the several yearly sales that manufacturer's offer with coupons over the course of a year), a box of the Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda, & a box of the 20 Mule Team Borax powder should cost less than $15.00-$20.00; & provide enough raw materials to wash laundry for 6 months to a year, depending on the size of your family..

Bruce

FWIW Ivory is not vegan, Fels Naptha isn't, either.

Sodium tallowate is from animal fat.

You have to read the label, make sure all the fats in the soap are from plants.

arugula, do you have an alternative soap brand name? i am using up the last of the soap i've got and then i wanted to make some of my own. thanks chica!

Anything vegetable based is ok, coconut oil, olive oil (kiss my face), Dr. Bronner, the glycerin soaps like clearly natural. I usually get my soaps from Big Lots, I just wait until they have something vegan and then stock up.

i don't know how well those would work though, they are fairly oily and that's the kind that you aren't supposed to use. i'll have to take another look at the website and see if there are any hand made soap recs.

Probably coconut or palm oil based is best, that's more saturated fat like tallowate. IIRC there is a vegetable soap in the laundry section of most supermarkets, I just can't remember the name. It has a very generic sounding name.

Might as well resurrect an old thread instead of creating a new one. . .

Anyone (still) using homemade laundry detergent? Any tweaking done to the recipe? Any tips, pointers?

I found a similar recipe that makes about a one gallon batch. Haven't tried it yet but do have the ingredients.

Have been making it all this time, my friends too. Most recently I did the 4cwater with grated soap 6c water with borax and washing soda part 3 times and added it all to the 22c cold water. It's thicker and cleans very, very well even if only using a small amount. I scented it with lemongrass and lavender, it's lovely.

klandestine Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Might as well resurrect an old thread instead of
> creating a new one. . .
>
> Anyone (still) using homemade laundry detergent?
> Any tweaking done to the recipe? Any tips,
> pointers?
>
> I found a similar recipe that makes about a one
> gallon batch. Haven't tried it yet but do have
> the ingredients.

I had created a newer thread, maybe a year or so ago on this topic. I have tried the different combinations of ingredients, & unfortunately nothing works for our situation - We have very hard spring water.

We tried Borax/washing soda/castile soap/other...

I mixed everything up well until it reached the creamy consistency desired, heated the appropriate ingredients - but the clothes came out with white streaks all over them, esp. noticeable in the dark wash.


Read some threads on other forums & found out it was due to the high mineral content in out spring water. At that point, we opted to use a laundry ball & it has worked out great. We sometimes use Dr. Bronners Sal suds in addition to the ball.

So - a word to the wise - if you have hard water & try to use the homemade mix, your clothes will come out with white streaks...

Juicerkatz,

The recipe I found for the laundry soap also has a recipe for a baking soda/vinegar rinse. I wonder if something like that would help.

And also, apparently getting a bar soap without glycerin (vegetable glycerin or otherwise) is important as it will build up on the clothes.

The water is fairly hard here, I will see how it goes.

Glycerin naturally occurs in soap making, how do you get a bar without it?

Sorry Coco - I meant extra added glycerin. More than what the saponification process naturally produces.

Gotcha. I have been using whatever soap I can find, laundry bars are hard to come by here!

Coco, does this concoction suds up, though? I am one of those people who need my soap to form a lather or I don't think it's actually cleaning anything. I am not saying it's right but that's just how I feel. I buy three different brands: Ecos (my favorite of all), Meyers Clean Day, and Trader Joe's. They are all much more per load than what your homemade stuff would be so I am interested.

They don't foam very much but that's a good thing. The foaming action indicates industrial foaming agents and that is worse to have touching your skin than whatever actual dirt might get left behind on your clothes. I wash the kid's stuff in this soap though and it comes Clean, that's challenging to say the least.

As someone mentioned, Ivory is not vegetarian; they use beef tallow;( I was impressed by the honesty of the company, though, when I made the inquiry. Gotta hand it to them for writing me back and giving the scoop. As for a substitute, there is one at Whole Foods that is exactly like Ivory, down to the scent, but the name escapes me. It is one of those castile ones and nondescript. They raised the price from 1.29 a bar to $1.99, so I don't buy it anymore but if it would be enough to make a big mixture of detergent, I would entertain the notion of buying it.