Tuesday, February 3, 2009

Two Cent Tuesday: Homemade Laundry Soap



I've recently been intrigued by the idea of making homemade laundry soap. There's just something very cool in sustainability, right?

So this weekend I had at it. All found in the laundry aisle of my local Kroger grocery store. And, all for under 10 bucks. Woo-hoo, me likey.

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1/2 bar soap {Fels Naptha or Ivory- I used Ivory}
2 cups Borax
2 cups Washing Soda

Grind in food processor until a very fine powder.
Voila.
Laundry soap.
Use 1-3 T per load.


My two cents: Homemade laundry soap seems to work very well. I did all of our weekend laundry with it and everything appears clean with no odors- Yippee!

I've read there are two things that turn some people off from the homemade stuff:

A) Lack of scent. Your clothes have zero scent when using the homemade powder. (Unless you use a laundry sheet in the dryer and that scents your clothes.)

B) Zero suds. Having made my own handmade soap for a time, I understand that suds are not the cleaning agent. That's why you see SLS (Sodium Lauryl Sulfate) in most soaps/shampoos. It just makes the stuff sud/foam/lather. The cold process soap gals know to use coconut oil to achieve a fantastic lather, too.

That being said, most people have to have that lather & suds to feel like it's 'cleaning'.

Not me.
I'm not scared away.
Bring on the homemade powder stuff- I'm game.

That's my two cents for the week.

Happy Tuesday blog friends! =)

-Jen

10 comments:

  1. Very Interesting!!!!

    I wonder what amount you would use for HE machines?? (high effiency) (the newer upright machines that are out now)

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  2. I was wondering the same thing as Becky. I'm intrigued but not sure it would work with my front loader.

    Dropping by from SITS

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  3. Hi ladies! From everything that I've read, the homemade soap would work in the HE/from loading machines. I guess the HE soap is low sudsing, too. I'd probably make the liquid version though. {That's next of my list.}

    Here's another blogger who makes the liquid version and uses it in her HE washer.

    http://momsmess.wordpress.com/2008/08/20/homemade-laundry-soap-tutorial/

    Happy Tuesday!

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  4. Hey! Becky stole my comment!

    I was gonna say very interesting too.

    Thesaurus...here I come.

    Ok, found one. How's this?

    Homemade laundry soap? Purely Fascinating!

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  5. Good for you. Was it hard to clean out your food processor? I'd worry about food and getting a soap taste.

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  6. Ohhh. People on my dog forum have been discussing this and it sounds like an awesome idea. Sadly I can't find the ingredients in the commissary on base and don't trust my Germany to get me the right ingredients off base. =D

    Thanks for the comment. I'll post pictures of my finished dresser redo when I'm done.

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  7. ok, where did you find the washing soap? i've looked for this before at walmart with no luck.

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  8. Hi Andrea! I found it in the laundry aisle at Kroger- it's my local grocery store. If you can't find it on the local level, there's always amazon. =)

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