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Homemade Laundry Soap
I've been trying for a couple years now to make all our own cleaning products. I've succeeded fairly well with cold process hand & body soaps. Clean, Naturally: Recipes for Body, Home, and Spirit by Sandy Maine is a great start for basic soap making. And of course vinegar, baking soda and borax works for most household cleaning. Add a little Dr. Bronner's (we like peppermint, though tea tree sounds great too) where you want a liquid cleaner like dirty floors and the toilet bowl.
I am now making our own laundry soap and it's a bit complicated so it's not for everyone. But a friend asked me how I do it and I thought I'd share it here.
First, I make a simple batch of cold process soap. This is the hardest part. I have a tutorial on 4 steps to making homemade soap to get you started.
Simple Lard Soap:
4 lbs of lard or vegetable shortening
28 oz water
8.5 oz of lye
When the soap is ready (takes about a month to cure) I grate most of it in the food processor, saving some for basic cleaning bars.
Laundry Mix:
12 cups washing soda, not the same as by similar to baking soda
8 cups borax
6 cups grated Simple Lard Soap
I use cold water wash and rinse. For an extra large laundry load I use 1/2 cup of laundry mix plus a squirt (very technical measurement) of Sal Suds (stopped using Sal Suds and just use my own soap now). Because the Laundry Mix doesn't dissolve well in cold water I whisk the 1/2 cup with 1 cup or so of hot water to help it dissolve before I add it to the washing machine.
For stains I scrub and lather a bar of Simple Lard Soap into the stain, or soak in a concentrated solution of water and Laundry Mix. I'll be honest, our clothes get stained and all the scrubbing in the world doesn't take some of them out, oh well.
I also use Sal Suds for my dishes. It's very concentrated so a little is all you need. Read about my new dishwashing routine.
I make my own dishwasher soap as well. That recipe another time, if there's any interest.
More FIMBY make-your-own recipes:
Basic Moisturizing Cream.
Lip Balm
Beeswax Candles
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[...] Laundry soap update Submitted by renee on Thu, 2008-05-29 02:55. Yikes, I forgot this little detail in my previously posted soap directions: [...]
I have had pretty good luck making Castille soap (similar to the Lard soap, but with olive oil instead of lard!) and I bet you could use this for your laundry soap. I refuse to mess with lard, and since you mentioned you thought it was nasty stuff too, I thought you might like to try the Olive Oil kind.
We also make hand soap with the Castille soap and have added everything from avocado to cocoa butter to coffee grounds (to remove kitchen smells like garlic from your hands)--it's pretty neat stuff!
:) Julie
Thanks for the tip Julie. I like the hardness of the lard bar but I might have to try Castille soap next time.
Where can I find washing soda??? I don't know where to start looking for it.
thanks!
I find it in my local grocery store, Hannafords, next to the Borax in the laundry soap aisle. It's up high, out of the way. I've read about people who have troubles finding it and will drive to get it. Hopefully you don't have to do that.
The thing I can't find is the lye. Where do you find that? Would I be able to get some from you perhaps?
Thanks for all of these homemade recipes. Your soap looks incredible.
Wish I could buy it.
I make my own soap,and I use camdengrey.com for my lye source. They are the best price I have found so far. Good luck!
[...] there, check out the other bath & body related posts, including the one detailing how to make homemade laundry soap. You may also [...]
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