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RE: Homemade Laundry soap

SRUedu — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 10:35:30 GMT

We use the homemade powder version in our HE washer. I only use about a TBSP of detergent per load in ours. We have 6 little ones and so there are times when the laundry is EXTRA dirty so I will use 2 TBSP instead of just one and that seems to clean the laundry pretty well. We've been using it for about 2 months now w/no adverse effects on our laundry or washer. I have a friend who has been using it for over a year in her washer and has had no problems with her machine either.

You do still need to leave the door open when not using it and you will still have to clean your washer w/either bleach or the Affresh type cleaners once every couple of months. I only mention that b/c I didn't think (don't know why) that I would still need to do those things. Needless to say I had to clean my machine a couple of times and had to scrub the seal when I noticed that mold had just started growing b/c I had left the door closed for several days.

RE: Homemade Laundry soap

Chi Mom — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 23:35:29 GMT

3BoysMom I have a question for you. You said you use this soap in a high efficiency washing machine. Have you seen any adverse effects on the machine. We purchased a washer that only uses 10-14 gallons of water a load, but it requires special detergent. Since these machines are extremely expensive, I would not want to damage it in any way. How long have you been using it in your HE washer??

Thanks

RE: Homemade Laundry soap

lsg — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 06:44:25 GMT

Here is a recipe for making your own laundry bar.

You can make your own laundry bar. Here is the recipe I use.

Lard 19.2 oz
Coconut Oil 12.8 oz
Lye 4.8 oz
Distilled water 10 oz.
Borax 3 Tbsp.
Sugar 1/4 cup
Ammonia 1/4 cup
8 drops Vitamin E

Add sugar and borax to lye water and stir until lye and other ingredients are dissolved. This may take a while.
Melt coconut oil and lard, stir in Vitamin E. Add lye water and
soap as usual. At thin trace add ammonia. Be careful to soap by an open window because the fumes from the ammonia are potent at first. If desired, you may add 1 oz orange or lemon essential oils.

Pour into mold and let set for 24 hours.

RE: Homemade Laundry soap

mystnd — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 14:37:36 GMT

I am going to try this but have found that buying the ingredients is tricky. I ordered the borax and washing soda from drugstore.com but they didn't have phels naptha soap (??). I can get it all from amazon and they even sell it packaged (although in what I think are odd quantities) but to get one bar, it cost me more in shipping than the cost of the bar so am looking for another option. It drives me nuts that I have to have this shipped in. ND may be green and white to look at but not so to buy stuff. Mary Ann

RE: Homemade Laundry soap

Robley — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 17:35:40 GMT

I'll have to give this a try.

RE: Homemade Laundry soap

3boysmom — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 10:57:33 GMT

My recipe uses 1 cup of grated soap (fels, ivory, etc.) 1/2 c. borax, 1/2c. washing soda dissolved in 2 qts boiling water. Then pour into a 5 qt. bucket with 2 qts. cold water & mix. This will set up overnight and I use my electric mixer to mix it back up and it will stay liquid after that. I use 1/2 cup per load in my high efficiency washer. For a dry powder mix the dry ingredients and use one tablespoon per load.

RE: Homemade Laundry soap

34state — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 09:47:32 GMT

I belong to an online group that is making this now. I have the products and I just have to find the time to work on it. Hope it works well.

RE: Homemade Laundry soap

Happy Palace — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 05:38:39 GMT

1 bar Fels Naphtha soap

1 cup borax

1 cup washing soda

Grate Fels Naphtha & melt in hot water. Meanwhile, dissolve borax & washing soda in hot tap water in 4 or 5 gallon bucket. Add dissolved Fels and fill bucket with hot tap water. It will set up into a gel-like substance with liquid on bottom. I used a paint stirrer to mix the gel & liquid together. Use appx. 1/2 cup per load of laundry. How much to use becomes a guessing game based on type of water & how dirty your clothes are. I liked the clean smell of the Fels, but some people will add essential oils to the mix for a different scent. I kept mine in an empty kitty litter bucket in the laundry room.

RE: Homemade Laundry soap

JasonP — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 20:14:13 GMT

How do you make it??

RE: Homemade Laundry soap

Happy Palace — Sat, 23 May 2009 14:15:30 GMT

Oh, I can answer this!! I have made my own soap and I LOVE it. I love the smell of the soap and the CLEAN smell of my clothes - especially the towels.

My downside is that after a while I felt like my whites were starting to look a little grungy. I wasn't able to find the right recipe combination to keep my whites as bright as I like them. My problem may simply be our hard water/softner combination, or not using enough/too much soap.

I highly recommend trying homemade soap. It works wonderfully for a lot of people. If buying soap ever became an economic issue for me, I'd gladly make my own & bleach my whites.

Homemade Laundry soap

Dgowan — Fri, 22 May 2009 18:42:58 GMT

Does anyone make there own homemdae laundry soap??? If so does it work very well on your cloths?? Do you think it is worth it???

If not I have a recipe thats makes alot of soap and doesn't cost much

Lin