Several years ago I used to make all my own soaps, including laundry soap. I haven't been doing this in the past few years because of time constraints. Silly me. The value of the home made soaps and the quickness with which they can be made is amazing.
I mixed up a batch of powdered laundry soap this morning. I found the ingredients at the large always save store you probably have in your town. The only thing I didn't locate was washing soda. The wonderful thing about making laundry soap yourself is that you know what's in it and you know there are no fillers. Powdered laundry soaps often have tiny plastic shavings and other things that just serve to bulk it up so you think you're getting 4 lb. of soap to use. That's why it takes a cup or more of commercially made laundry soap per load!
I learned online that you can bake baking soda to turn it into soda ash, thereby producing washing soda. So, that's what I did. I baked two cups of baking soda in a 350 F. oven for about 20 minutes.
Warning: Do not inhale any of the powders or get them in your eyes.
Here's how I made the laundry soap:
- 2 cups borax
- 2 cups washing soda
- 1/2 cup baking soda (optional)
- 1 small bar Ivory soap
I grated the bar soap in a food processor, then added 1/2 cup borax and grated it till it was a fine powder. I turned this out into a large bowl, added the remaining borax, washing soda, and baking soda and mixed thoroughly. I stored it in a plastic coffee canister and labeled it, including how much to use per load - 4 tablespoons.
Even with baking the baking soda, the whole process took only 20 minutes. I had to wait for the soda ash, or it would have taken 10 to 15 minutes tops.
I'll let you know how this formula works out for me.
Costs:
- 4 lb. box borax - $2.96 (.74 per batch
- 4 lb. box baking soda - $2.12 (.53 per batch)
- 3 bar pack Ivory soap - $1.07 (.36 per batch)
Total: $1.63 for the batch. This should wash 22 loads of laundry, costing a little over .07 per load!
It may be that I will have to go back and make this into a gel if it doesn't rinse out well. I can do this by adding a couple of gallons of boiling water, stirring it thoroughly, letting it cool, then using about a cup of the gel when it's cooled down. To use the gel, you need to stir it every time before you use it to make sure none of the ingredients have settled to the bottom. ("Gel" sounds better than "glop", though that's what it's like when you use water in it.)
Next time I make this, though, I'll make sure the Ivory soap has set out long enough to dry out. I took it straight out of the wrapper and found that, though it was easy to cut up for the processor, it tended to clump and stick together.
