Thursday, October 14, 2010

~Laundry Soap~

Well, the day finally came! I ran out of laundry detergent! Right around the time our daughter was born (19 months ago!) we hit on some really good sales on the detergent we used, so we stocked up.

After learning about natural cleaners last April, I really wanted to make my own detergent. But I still had plenty to use up, so I determined that when I ran out, then I would make my own! =)

You'll need water and these three ingredients:


The soap looked so pretty all grated and ready to go:


I used this recipe here. For soap, I used Dr. Bronner's bar soap. It would have been cheaper to use Fels Naptha, but (according to the class I took last April) Dr. Bronner's is more natural.

This soap is quick and easy to make! I really can't believe how easy it is to make! I will be making my laundry detergent from now on. Next time I'll probably make a double batch since I have a 5-gallon bucket.

I broke the costs down and for one batch (64 loads) it cost me $1.97. That's a mere $.03 per load! The soap I used did raise the price a little, I'm pretty sure Fels Naptha is less expensive. Also, I've heard that Ivory or other natural soap bars work just as well as Fels Naptha.

9 comments:

Melody said...

We used Ivory when we made our own detergent. My only complaint was it wasn't the best at getting stains out, and I always forgot to pretreat them. :(

We switched to storebought, and now I'm considering switching back. The storebought we were using was causing some awful buildup in our cloth diapers, which resulted in some not-so-fun rashes. We switched the diapers back to homemade, but what's the point in using two different detergents?

Kristi said...

Do you know if this will work in a HE (high efficiency) washer?

Tammy said...

Melody, you could try using a different soap or upping the washing soda a little bit to see if it would help with the stains.

Kristi, I'm using it in a HE washer but I've heard that if you use anything else but HE detergent it will void your warranty. We didn't buy an extended warranty so I'm not even worrying about it!

Charity said...

I've been wanting to try this... so economical! :)

Anonymous said...

I'd like to try this too. Where did you buy your ingredients?

Anonymous said...

Good move trying another soap. I use Fels Naptha and find it is VERY strong smelling -- so much so that my next batch will be using another soap. My sister makes homemade lye soap, that stuff takes anything out and doesn't really have smell. Will give it a try. Do you sent your soap with anything good semlling like essential oils? Have always wanted to do that.

randi said...

i love making my own laundry soap, although i do make the liquid (gel) kind. it's cheap and it works!

kristy---i use mine in an HE too.

Maresa said...

where do u find the fels naptha at?

Tammy said...

Trixie, the Dr. Bronner's is scented with escentual oils, otherwise I didn't add any scent.

Maresa, you should be able to find Fels Naptha at your grocery store or hardware store.