Homemade Laundry Soap

A month ago, a friend shared a pint jar of home-made laundry soap with me. It's opaque white, smells like ordinary soap, and a similar consistency to any liquid detergent. After laundering our clothes with it a couple times a week, it is half gone, and I can tell it works just as well as the earthy brands we have been using for the past couple of years and as well as the mainstream brands that give your clothes odor and leave chemical residue to boost the reflection of light (color!) I like to buy the environmentally-friendly detergent brands because they tend to be fragrance-free, biodegradable, and have fewer additives, which means they are healthier for us as well. Making soap at home seems to me like a good way to keep using a green product but with fewer packages to recycle and at a fraction of the cost. For the price of one jug of liquid detergent, which is not even a gallon in size, I can easily buy the ingredients required to make 15+ gallons of comparable soap at home.

Ingredients:

4 cups hot water

1 bar Fels Naptha or Kirk's Castile

1 cup Arm & Hammer Washing Soda

1/2 cup Borax

Directions:

Grate the soap and add it to a sauce pan that contains the hot water. Stir until melted on medium-low heat. Fill a container with 5 gallons of hot tap water. Add the soap, borax, and washing soda. Stire until dissolved. Cover and let thicken overnight or until cool. Stir again.

Use:

1/4 cup for high efficiency (HE) machines

5/8 cup for regular machines

There are numerous websites that describe the previous in more detail, with variations, and with photos. For example, here is a diaper site that describes how to make two different powder versions of this soap, which they call detergent for some reason (mistake?). I think I will make the second, the heavy powder, because I already own liquid castile soap, using liquid instead of bar means I don't have to grate it, heat it, or deal with multiple bars since a little liquid goes a long way, and because making powder soap is not only easier than making liquid but it takes up less space.

Note that stores usually sell detergents, which are synthetic, and here we I am talking about making soap, which is composed of natural substances. There is no question that soap is easier on us and our environment, but detergents are better at removing hard-water residue. So, for diapers, which need to remain absorbent or in hard water locations the price of specialized diaper detergents can be a necessity unless other steps are taken to strip the fabrics.