Homemade Laundry Detergent

[Applejack]

We found some at Wally World, and I actually purchased an "Arm and Hammer baking soda detergent... BUT it does contain the ingrediant necessary, the sodium carbonate. Seems to work fine! Let me know if you try it, what your thoughts are. A 5 gal bucket, total cost under 10 bucks.. :)

I have used Arm and hammer detergent for years. it works great and is cheaper than most, but if you run out and can't buy any knowing how to make your own is a great idea.
Applejack

[Morgan101]

Has anybody ever tried this with liquid soap rather than grinding up a bar of soap and melting it? What would the ratio be of solid ounces (bar) to liquid ounces?

[Chefsimms]

Just a note: stocking up on extra borax would be a good thing as it's a great product for many, many things. We keep a jar near the sink to use for scrubbing extra dirty, greasy hands (it even got tar off!), and it's a good incest repelant and keeps the ants away. I still have some automatic dish detergent left, but I won't be bying any more as you can use some of these ingredients to make that...much cheaper than what you can buy!

I make logs for my fire place, using borax, I roll the logs out of old news paper soak them in borax over night, then let them dry for several days...then you have a good log for your fire that will burn a long time, and you are using up old newspaper

[gremlin]

We made this last nite. Still sitting, yet to try.. only heard good things, so far. Let you know. Very inexpensive to make, and makes a lot!


Homemade Liquid Laundry Soap- Front or top load machine- best value

4 Cups - hot tap water
1 Fels-Naptha soap bar
1 Cup - Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda*
½ Cup Borax

- Grate bar of soap and add to saucepan with water. Stir continually over medium-low heat until soap dissolves and is melted.

-Fill a 5 gallon bucket half full of hot tap water. Add melted soap, washing soda and Borax. Stir well until all powder is dissolved. Fill bucket to top with more hot water. Stir, cover and let sit overnight to thicken.

-Stir and fill a used, clean, laundry soap dispenser half full with soap and then fill rest of way with water. Shake before each use. (will gel)

-Optional: You can add 10-15 drops of essential oil per 2 gallons. Add once soap has cooled. Ideas: lavender, rosemary, tea tree oil.

-Yield: Liquid soap recipe makes 10 gallons.

-Top Load Machine- 5/8 Cup per load (Approx. 180 loads)

-Front Load Machines- ¼ Cup per load (Approx. 640 loads)

*Arm & Hammer "Super Washing Soda" - in some stores or may be purchased online here (at Meijer.com). Baking Soda will not work, nor will Arm & Hammer Detergent - It must be sodium carbonate!!

Duggar Family recipe ( yes, the couple with the 20 something kids, on TLC)

This works very well. To add a scent to it, I grate hand soap like Lever 2000 or Irish Spring. Been doing it for a couple years now. Very inexpensive and we store it in the plastic gallon ice cream containers.

[5Pyd3Rm4N]

Anyone used one of these recipe's in a newer "HE" type washing machine? We had to buy a new washing machine a little while ago. We got a top loader, but it still needs the "HE" laundry detergents.

[Applejack]

This is a great idea. the price of liquid detergent has really gone up here. gain was a good price for 9.99 for the largest bottle and it jumped to 15.00 now. I have an LG front loader that takes the HE detergent. But it says I can use powder only if I use half and put directly in the machine with clothes. I also wonder about using this homemade soap. I would really have to watch this as I might want to get a washer that will use any type of detergent. they have buckets of detergent at BJ's cheap and I could store these 5 lb buckets in the attic if need be. but the home made soap is a great start if I can use it in my machine.
AJ

[Caroline]

Thank you for this thread and the recipes! In my humble opinion, learning how to make soap is as critical as any other survival skill/supply- every survival situation eventually requires clean-up, no matter how you look at it. If you have never done it, consider learning how to leach lye mixture from hardwood ash (it is very easy), learn how to purify tallow (hard beef fat) and understand lye (sodium hydroxide). Practice making melt&pours (M&P), rebatching (crystallizing fresh made soap using milk/water), cold processing (no cooking), and/or hot or boiled processing. Practice extracting fragrances/colors from natural sources, just learn about saponification in general. Not only will you be darn glad you did, you will probably never buy any soap again. Because from there, you have enpowered yourself to make all the different types of soap you will ever use; even this thread where you cut up a bar of soap...only you will be cutting up the soap you made, not a store bought bar. Personally, I like making, and being able to make, soap. It surprises me how many people say they can't, or haven't even tried. If you are one of them, this is an excellent site for looking into soap making: http://saponifier.com/ and Dr. McDaniel has an excellent beginner book for it also: Essentially Soap.
Kind Regards and thanks again!

[Applejack]

this is a laundry detergent that my daughter has made and is using now. It can be used with an HD washer. and only takes 2-4 Tablespoons per laundry load. Remember, if you have a front loader like I do, just put detergent on top of clothes, not in the laundry cup.

1 4lb 12oz box of borax- found in detergent aisle
1 3lb 7oz box of Arm & Hammer super washing soda
1 3lb container of oxyclean found in detergent aisle (this is optional but I highly recommend adding it).
2 14.1 bars of Zote Soap- found in detergent aisle. ( I we chose to do pind for the scent but the white will be just fine.
You can also use fels naptha
1 4lb box of arm & hammer baking soda found in cooking ailse (you could get 2 boxs if you can't find the larger 4lb box.
1-2 55oz bottle of purex crystals fabric softener; found in detergent aisle ( this is 100% optional. Like I said my laundry detergent must smell good and I really like soft towels. This is an option though.
Dirctions:
1: grate zote soap with cheese grater or food processor.
2: mix all ingredients together in a large bucket.
3: use 2-4 Tablesppons per laundry load.

My daughter started doing this several months ago and she washes 2 to 3 loads of clothes per day and this has lasted her 8 months so far. At the time she bought the ingrentents to make it it cost her only $28.00 Not bad for the amount of clothes she washes a day and then for 8 months so far on one batch. no fabric softner needed.
Aj