In honor of being so completely behind on my laundry I decided to make some laundry soap. A.) Cuz anything DIY tickes me pink and B.) I’m cheap
Also the laundry is wayyyyy backed up so I needed something in bulk!
This is so easy to make I am shocked more people don’t do it. Especially considering the price and ingredients in commercial detergents.
Here’s what you need
A box grater
A pot
A stirring spoon. Please note if you are using plastic which is porous you shouldn’t use it for cooking. I got this out of my fabric dying stuff. Any cheapy stirring thingy will work so take a trip to the dollar store or find a nice stick in your yard.
A five gallon bucket with lid. I got mine at the bakery department at our grocery store. It is the bucket the icing comes in (ick, so glad I make mine from scratch). They charged me $1. But if your bakery won’t part with their lard icing buckets than any hardware store would have one pretty cheap.
Fels Naphta, washing powder and Borax. All three can be found in the laundry soap aisle and are super cheap. Double bonus…you can use the borax and washing powder to make homemade dishwasher detergent! Seriously, the Fels naptha is like 97 cents and the other 2 boxes are less than $3 bucks each and you only need a little so it will last you a crazy long time.
Directions: I did not invent this, this recipe is ALL over the internet. I’m just sharing with you so you don’t have to hunt it down. You’re wlecome
Grate the fels naphta with the box grater into the pot. It smells yummy (don’t eat it, unless you have a cussing problem. It’s soap) Add 4 cups hot water and stir over medium heat until it is all melted. Pour the melted soap into your 5 gallon bucket (which I have sitting in the bathtub) and fill half way with hot water. Stir. Add 1 cup washing powder and 1/2 borax. Stir to disolve. You could also add any essential oils if you wanted to scent it. Fill the bucket the rest of the way with hot water, cover with a lid and let sit over night. It will turn ino a gel which on occasion may need a stir. 1/4 cup per load for a regualar top loader washing machine. 1/8 cup for a fancy HE front loader.
Enjoy, Please leave a comment and let me know if you tried it!
My aunt has been using this recipe for a long time now! She keeps her’s in a gallon milk jug. She uses Snuggle softner since she could not give that up. Do you grate the entire bar of Fels Naphta?
Yes, I grated the entire bar which to be honest was the most time consuming part. I have read where some are putting it in their food processor but I wan’t brave enough to try that.
Thanks for the comment!
How do you like the soap now that you’ve hopefully used it?
I think it works great. We are very happy with it!