Anyone make their own laundry soap?

[farmergirl]

I have powdered borax and a big box of baking soda on hand. Is there a way I could use these two ingredients to wash our laundry?

[nodak3]

It depends. You can use 1 1/2 cups of borax, 1 1/2 cups WASHING, not baking, soda, and one ground up bar of soap to make detergent. Use 2 T per load. You might substitute the baking soda if you have soft water. HOWEVER, unless you have very soft water and/or use a wringer, clothes can develope a buildup of soap curd which turns them dingy. You might also clog your house lines and the pump in your washer. This is a popular homestead/frugal thing to do. We did it many years. One new washer and new house lines later, I just buy cheap detergent.

[RedHairedBonnie]

I make a liquid laundry soap-here's what I use:

3 on ivory or homemade soap
1/2 cup WASHING soda
1/2 cup borax

grate soap in sauce pan
Add 6 cups water
heat until soap melts
Add WASHING soda and borax
stir until dissolved
remove from heat
Pour 4 cups HOT water into bucket
Add soap mixture
stir
add 1 gallon and 6 cups of water
stir
let set 24 hours
use 1/2 cup per load

I saved a store bought soap jug, and transfer it into it. I also need to shake it before I use it.

I never heard of clogging problems.

I realize this isn't exactly what you asked for, but hope it helps.

[MullersLaneFarm]

I use something very similar to RHBonnie for a PRE-SOAK, then use the grey water in the garden. (I also had a bit of sweet orange & rosemary essential oils in the pre-soak). For actually cleaning the clothes, I use a detergent. Soaps are fine for skin, but detergents really cuts through the grime, lifts and removes dirt. Unless you add some sort of cheleating (sp?) agent with the soap, you will build up a nasty, slimy gunk in pipes & septic.

With a homemade laundry soap as described, you will want to use about 1 cup white vinegar in your final rinse to try to get off the soap that doesn't rinse clean.

[comfortablynumb]

I make my own from the funny powdery stuff in the 5$ boxes of "purex" i get at the dollar store.
you get 6 lbs of it and as far as i can figure, the only thing the stuff is good for is to either make me sneeze, or to make water all sudsy when you dump some in the washing machine with the clothes.

I'm not sure what it is, but it makes a fine substutute for laundry soap.

lol

[MullersLaneFarm]

With Paul as a professional handyman, plus working in the gardens/farm yard - we get too dirty to go soap-less - although I might try it with some of my office clothes.

[debd0712]

I make our laundry detergent with the following recipe:

1 bath size bar Ivory (or homemade soap)
2 c. washing soda
water

I grate the soap in to a saucepan, fill with hot water and heat, stirring occasionally until soap is disolved. Do not let mixture boil. I put approximately 4 quarts hot water in a 5 gallon bucket, add the washing soda and stir to disolve. I then stir in the melted soap mixture and fill the bucket with hot tap water stirring after each 2 quart addition of water. Once the bucket is full, I let it cool stirring every 1/2 hour or so. After sitting overnight it is totally cool and the top layer has jelled. I stir at each use, and use 1 c per large load. Works as well or better than anything else I have tried, and is much more economical. We wash some very dirty clothes (farming) and everything ususally comes clean. I do pretreat some of the really greasy, oily clothes. You can add fragrance (E.O.) if desired, I do not.

Debbie

[MullersLaneFarm]

I use the sweet orange essential oil & rosemary essential oil to get the oil & grease off - not necessarily for the fragrance!

[nodak3]

About every six weeks, if you use detergent, skip the detergent and use 1/4 cup of borax or washing soda, or 1/2 cup of baking soda. There is enough detergent buildup in clothes to clean just fine that time without added detergent.