Laundry Detergent - Success!

I did make the laundry soap over the weekend. I grated my bar of Fels Naptha while watching my favorite show Clean House. I normally don’t watch television, but while I was sick and out of work for a week, flipping through the channels I came across Clean House. Now on the weekends usually when I sit down to eat lunch, I look to see if Clean House is on just to watch for the last half hour (when all the best stuff happens). I am fascinated and horrified by each show that I watch. I would NEVER submit myself for a show, as I could never part with so much stuff!! They make you sell or donate just about everything in the rooms they are making over.

While I was grating the soap, AJ, my youngest son, who is totally into food preparation safety stuff, asked me which pan was I using. I’d read on I told him I was using the soap making pan. He was impressed that I knew where the soap making pan was, stating that I wasn’t usually the one to make soap, and also appreciative that I wasn’t fouling up any of our regular cooking utensils. Mr. A and AJ make our hand soap, using our goat’s milk. They make up a batch every few months. The really neat thing is even if your oil goes stale, you can use it to make bar soap! You can’t tell once it’s turned into soap, so it is a super way to use up elderly oils.

It took about twenty-five minutes to make the soap. Grate the bar soap, heat and stir until dissolved, dump into a 5 gallon bucket, add in the 1 cup of Arm & Hammer Super Wash Soda, and 1/2 cup of Borax. Add hot water until the bucket is half full. Stir until the powders are dissolved, add in hot water to the top, stir and let set overnight. Simple. It was really watery when it was first done. Then I let it set overnight. It turns into a gel.

Here’s where having a handyman for a husband comes in real handy. He owns all these super duper tools, like this neat mixer attachment that goes with his drill. I had to remove some of the solution as it started to slosh out of the bucket, but it worked out great, and the solution is no longer goopy and gelatinous. I poured the solution into an old laundry detergent container (take THAT commercial detergent companies!) halfway to the top, then filled with hot water and shook it up. We’re using the lid for measuring, the recipe says to use 5/8ths cup for a top loader.

I’ve washed two loads of clothes using it, and Mr. A has washed a couple loads as well. The clothes smell nice, and they look great. I’ll get you all know if anything changes.

My next goal is to put together a cost analysis. Trent at the Simple Dollar estimates in one of his posts on laundry soap making that will save about $20 a year. Since my recipe says to dilute the solution half and half with water, and we will use 5/8ths cup, instead of Trent’s 1 cup of concentrate, I think we’ll save more than $20 a year, but I’ll have to check and let you know.

Go forth and make your own laundry detergent and report back here with your results!

Yours Truly,

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