I think my sister and I are channeling Laura Ingalls these days.
We totally made our own clothes soap.
It was really cheap. Under $7 and this will last forever!
You can totally do this too, it’s super easy.
To make about 4 mason jars full you will need:
6 cups Borax
4 cups baking soda
4 cups washing soda
4 cups Fels-Naptha bar soap (almost 2 bars)
Grate the bar soap, I have read that you can use Dove or some other soap if you can’t find this particular one.
But I will say…
I live in the city.
The C.I.T.Y.
No chickens. No cows.
And my Publix sold all this stuff.
Now put it all in a bowl and mix it really well.
Also, you should know, this is very powdery and was starting to go everywhere.
Up our nose, in our mouth.
Just sayin. Try to mix carefully.
Now put it in jars or an air-tight container.
Done.
You will need 2 tablespoons per load.
OK, here’s the deal on the HE washing machines.
HE washing machines need special soap that is low-sudsing.
And this is, so you really should be fine.
It’s totally safe in mine and my sisters.
Also the Duggars have a recipe that’s similar and they use it in HE. So there ya go.
You can make a sweet tag if you want to give as a gift.
I used cotton butcher twine to attach a clothes pin.
Then added a homemade tag that you can download here.
(Thanks Graphics Fairy for the label border)
I thought later that I should have included instructions on how much to use.
I think it would be cute to write it on the clothes pin.
Or you could attach another tag.
Happy Little House on the Prairie!
And happy saving a lot of money.
:)
I am linking to Saturday Night Special!
PS…want about 50 tips and tricks for this recipe?
The comments are worth a read:)
oh and also…
I really really want to respond to every single amazing comment. But truth is…it’s getting really hard!
So know that I love you and I love that you are here and visited my blog and took time out of your day to comment:)
Christine
I will try this recipe. I currently make liquid very similar. When making the liquid I put the fels napath in my food processor with a little bit of cornstarch to prevent it sticking together. Melt the soap down add my ingredients and use my hand mixer to get it good and smooth. I keep it in a 5 gallon covered pail in my laundry room. I also put glycerin in it. I actually use about two of the glycerin suppositories and melt it down with the soap. It acts to help soften the clothes. Thank you for the powder recipe I have been wanting to make some of this!
I have been looking for washing soda for a while with no luck. I decided to go to Google and figure out what was so special about it and it is simple to turn regular baking soda into washing soda!
The difference between baking soda and washing soda is water and carbon dioxide. Baking soda’s chemical makeup is NaHCO3 (1 sodium, 1 hydrogen, one carbon, and 3 oxygen molecules). Washing soda’s chemical makeup is Na2CO3 (2 sodium, 1 carbon, and 3 oxygen molecules). When baking soda is heated up to high temperatures, it releases steam and carbon dioxide, leaving you with… washing soda!
The process is really simple. Just heat your oven to 400 F (or 200 C), sprinkle some baking soda on a shallow pan, and bake it for about half hour, until it changes composition. You should also stir it up occasionally, just so that it bakes more evenly.
How do you know when it changes into washing soda? Baking soda is powdery, crystallized like salt, and clumps together. Washing soda is grainy, dull and opaque, and is separate grains. Once you know the differences between the 2 sodas, you’ll be able to tell in no time.
Jaime,
You are fantastic. Thank you for sharing your research!
Bridget
Awesome!!! This really will help me to make the washing soda. I live in Mexico and I’ve been having a hard time finding washing soda. I was trying to find a recipe that does not include it but I’ve had no luck. So thank you for the tip!
Hi I just love the idea of home made laundry soap, your Jar is so cute and would make great gifts too, thanks for sharing your idea, I was guided to your site via Bloglovin Kindest Regards Marie
The Borax now has a warning on it, you should wear a mask when you’re handling it.
If you microwave the soap for about 15 seconds it softens slightly and makes it a lot easier to grate as well.
Thanks for pinging back to me! I actually hadn’t made this soap for a few months because grating all that bar soap is a CHORE! I read somewhere that you can do this in the food processor, so that’s what I did yesterday! It was totally awesome, took much less time, and I got a much finer powder than I’d ever gotten before! I hope that means it’s more effective! I’ve got a bun in the oven, and this detergent is a nice inexpensive alternative to Tide Free or Dreft.