Homemade laundry soap is so simple! Who knew?
So one of the things we had to figure out was a better alternative to laundry soap other than buying Tide or Gain, they work well and smell great but are so expensive...and with us moving off grid, we needed a soap that would last longer as well as being less money for us.
I stumbled across a particular recipe for laundry soap that caught my eye and it included the ingredients you see listed and pictured below.
The recipe calls for Borax, Arm & Hammer Laundry Booster/Super Washing Powder, Zote (bar or flakes), Baking Soda, Scent Crystals/beads, and Fels Naptha Bars. I also often add Oxiclean to my mix, and I use at least twice the amount of scent crystals it calls for.
Pictured below: 1 Fels Naptha Bar in package, and 1 Fels Naptha Bar graded down.
Just a side note here...I used a little cheese grader I have destined to be my laundry soap grader and you are likely to have a sore wrist if you do multiple batches of this soap at one time.
Pictured below: 2 Fels Naptha Bars graded down.
Pictured below: 2 Fels Naptha Bars graded down, ready to add to laundry mix, and you can see the pink Zote bar to the right in the package still, awaiting it's turn at the cheese grader currently sitting my right hand in this picture.
Pictured below: The 2 ground down Fels Naptha Bars and the Zote bar (I used the bar for 1 batch) before it was graded down. You can also see the cheese grader I use, it makes finely shredded shavings of the soap. I think any bigger than this would cause issues with the soap disintegrating in the wash as it should.
And finally onto the actual recipe for it, lol. Sorry about that. I always like to have a lot of visuals when I am learning something new.
Homemade Laundry Soap
Instructions for use:
Add 3 to 4 tablespoons of laundry soap to drum as you would any powdered laundry soap.
Ingredients/Tools Needed:
o Airtight, med/lg container (for storing soap, I mix in mine also)
o Grater (I use a small cheese grader)
o Med/Lg bowl (for grading soap or stain remover into)
o 2 Fels Naptha Bars
o 1 box borax
o 1 box super washing powder
o 1 pkg Zote soap flakes, or 1 zote bar
o 2 containers of scent crystals
o 3 small boxes baking soda
Directions:
1. Begin by prepping your station, gather all materials and place on or right by station used for mixing soap.
2. Empty Borax, Super washing powder, baking soda, and scent crystals into airtight container (or whatever you are using to mix soap in).
3. If using Zote flakes skip to step 4. If using Zote bar, get grader, and bowl and grade the whole bar of soap into bowl.
4. Add Zote flakes/or ground up Zote bar to container.
5. Use grader to grade Fels Naptha bars into a bowl. Once finished, add to the laundry soap mix.
6. Use your hands, or a big spoon, whisk, etc to mix the ingredients all together then store in an airtight container.
*Note*
I use 2 containers, or more, of the scent beads because of the dogs/young children in our house, plus the smell of any work clothes can be strong so this really helps with keeping the laundry smelling fresh longer. Also, I didn’t include it in the ingredients because the recipe doesn’t technically call for or need it, but I also like to add a container, sometimes 2 depending on how big of a batch I am making, of Oxiclean, name brand or cheap brand.
My favorite thing about this version of homemade or DIY laundry soap is that it is totally adaptable! I often add more scent beads, or a container or 2 of Oxiclean (depending on the size batch I am doing). I also add white vinegar to some loads, like towels that have been used to clean up puppy pee, or little child pee that couldn't get to the potty fast enough, haha. The vinegar helps disinfect and gets the urine smell out!
Pictured below are 2 of the culprits that cause the need to super good laundry soap and vinegar in the wash, and of course they are sleeping in our bed.
Thanks for reading our blog, I hope it helps you in your own journey for self-sustainability. If you'd like, check out the following video (link is below) where I talk about making the laundry soap and what's in it. Also, in the video, you'll see the container I use for 1 batch of the recipe shown above so you can have a better idea of what size container you'd need to use.
Here is the link for the video about the laundry soap.
And just in case y'all would like to follow our journey on Facebook, I have included a link below for our Ranch, we've finally agreed on a name: The Everett Family Ranch.
Stay safe and God bless!
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