Environmentally Friendly Homemade Laundry Soap (Detergent)

I know, I've been neglectful. So much for me having time and really sticking to it. One day, maybe. Likely, probably not. But, I will stick to posting here whenever I can. I can do that. :) Last post, you were eagerly awaiting the result of my chai tea and soap escapade. And, I have come to report to you my success! First, let us start with the homemade soap. I will tell you this, I wish I had made the powder version, so I'm going to tell you how to make it that way, then show you how I made the liquid kind and you can choose which you prefer!

For the powder kind, just grate up the bar of soap, and put 1 cup of borax and 1 cup of washing soda in a container of your choice. Much easier, so I'm not sure why I put myself through all of this trouble. Also, if you have someone in your house who loves the smell of fresh washed laundry, you can purchase fabric softener crystals and add them to the mix as well. Voila! Pretty smelling and effective soap! I didn't do it, because I was using all environmental products and that pretty smelling stuff isn't. So, if you're going for all natural, just add essential oil. :)

I suggest using about 1-2 tablespoons of it per load. That is a guess, though since I haven't made it before, but it makes sense to me.

Materials:
(2) 1 Gallon Jug, (or whatever other container you have sitting around)
1 Bar of Soap (any kind - but I went for the all natural)
1 Bar of Fels Naptha Soap
1 Box of Arm & Hammer Washing Soda
1 Box of Borax
1 Grater
1 Wooden Spoon
1 Funnel
1 Large Pot

So, oddly enough, I just happened to have two Jagermeister bottles laying around the house. I promise, they were collected over time. I used them instead of the 1 gallon containers because I thought it would look neat. I would submit that I was right.

Better remove those labels. We don't wanna confuse anyone, that night would end way differently that you expected. ;) Just put a wet rag on top of the labels while you're making the stuff and they should be ready to peel off by the end of it all. Check about half way through to make sure the rag isn't drying out, otherwise you'll have to start over with that part. No big deal if you do.

Grate 2/3 of your regular bar of soap and 1/3 of the Fels Naptha into a bowl. To be honest, the original recipe called for a plain bar of soap - your choice. I choice to do a little of both because I was aiming for the coconut smell that came with the bar of regular soap. I didn't come through in the end, so Fels Naptha might even be good by itself. I might do that next time.

Put 1 gallon of water in the pot with the soap mixture in it at about medium heat and let warm up until all of the soap is melted. Add 1 c. of borax and 1 c. of washing soda, then bring it to a boil. This should make it congeal, sort of. Mine didn't really congeal, but they say it works fine if it doesn't. Add one more gallon of cold water.

Next, use a funnel to pour the mixture into your bottles. I suggest letting it sit for awhile, because the bottles were hot for a period after. Don't worry if the mix ends up looking weird in the bottle over time. Just shake it up before you use it. I use about half a cup of soap per load.

I was thrilled with this because of the pump on the bottle. It makes it easy to put into the wash. It takes about eight pumps, and I have another whole bottle left over to make more!

Guess what the best part is?!
(aside from being eco-awesome, that is)

It was only $11.52 for all of the ingredients, and I could have made 3 more batches. There are 16 cups in a gallon (32 loads per bottle, 64 per batch). 256 loads (4 batches*64 loads per batch) per $12 ish spent. A box of Gain, which washes 150 loads is 20.47 on walmart.com. Granted, the cost will go up if you decide to add the fabric softener crystals. But, it's worth the saving I think. You pay about have for about 66% (I think) more product. Woot!







And...
  

Also, some handy information about more natural stain remover. I love oxi-clean, but I found out that white vinegar is supposed to be a good substitute and it just about a dollar at the store. Pictured on the left is what I used to compare my s stain remover to.  
As you can see, I put a little spaghetti sauce, coffee, and red wine on a scrap piece of cloth and let it sit for about a week. Then, I poured the stain remover on each and let it sit for about 15 minutes before putting them in the wash with the Gain soap. So, it might be slightly skewed, but I didn't want the stain remover to sit on it in unequal amounts of time.

The results were interesting and sort of inconclusive. White vinegar removed the wine stain WAY better than oxi-clean, however you can tell that the coffee and spaghetti stain stuck around more on the white vinegar piece (which is on the left). Oxi-clean turnt he wine stain a purple blue that would definitely make the shirt unwearable. I've seen that you have to do different things with white vinegar depending on the stain, such as use peroxide. Makes sense to me, for the bubbling action. Maybe one day in the future I will try it!

Terrible picture, I know. But, I was in the middle of my move and trying to get everything put away quickly.