Homemade Products: Laundry Soap

I have been making my own laundry soap for a couple of years now. I have mostly made the liquid form up until recently. It is very easy and after many recipes I found the easiest one for me. Some is just trial and error until you find a mix that works for you. The recipe for the dry laundry detergent is as follows:

Laundry Soap: 1/2 Cup soap flakes (grated soap bars), 1/2 cup baking soda, 1/4 cup washing soda, 1/4 cup borax, 1 clean 16 oz plastic container. To make lightly grate the bars of soap, mix all together and store in tightly sealed container. Use 1/2 cup of mixture for each load of laundry.

Tips for this recipe: one bar of Ivory soap equaled 1/2 cup, 3 bars to a pack so I tripled the recipe. I just sat down and hand grated the bars it is very easy and use the fine grate. You can use any type of bar soap. If you like more smell then use a heavier scented soap. My grandmother loved to use Zest because it cleans like crazy and she used it as a spot remover too. I use ivory because it has a clean smell. I have no issue with my dry skin or sensitive skin using these products. Washing Soda is different then baking soda and can be bought on line. Around here I have only found it at Meijers in the laundry aisle. It is about 2-3 bucks a box.

If you want a homemade Fabric Softener try this recipe: 1/2 cup vinegar poured into the final rinse cycle or dispenser. The smell fades away and it leaves your clothes soft and is more gentle on the clothes then regular softeners. I have used it and it does work however I like April fresh and it doesn't bother my allergies so I stay with that vice.

The Liquid Detergent go here to a previous post I had on this recipe. (I found you can use ivory dish detergent in place of bar soap or ivory hand soap)

Want to see what you can use these products to do? Click on the links: vinegar, washing soda (explains what washing soda is...), baking soda and borax

Homemade laundry soap will NOT suds up like regular laundry soap. Do not be alarmed by this it is still working it just doesn't need additives to suds. I like the ease of the dry soap a scoop in the machine as it fills up and you are good to go. I like the liquid but it is a little messy most people call it gloop because it looks like that but it works well too.