Homemade Laundry Soap, Easier then you think!

So basically I was sick of paying out the whazoo for detergent and knowing that I was buying this plastic jug the needed recycled, and there was petroleum and other harmful ingredients in the soap itself. So I decided to make one myself.

Sure there are a few that are probably safe and non toxic, but they are just much more expensive and even then they are least likely to be on sale or to have coupons. So come hop aboard the Prissy Green Frugal Train! Toot toot!

So I started googling. I came across Tipnut.com, here is the LINK to the homemade laundry soap recipes. I used #10 first time around but since then I have modified it, see my take below. I did then because I frankly didn’t see the need for the castille soap.

To be quite frank some of those recipes are just too much trouble and well, sound too gooey and messy for me I don’t really want to keep a bucket in my laundry room and need to stir my soap before each use. Plus, I wasn’t really feeling the grating and melting part, and I have always prefered dry soap. But to each their own! Those othere recipes are great, just not my cup of tea.

Now keep this in mind, you are getting rid of artifical colorants (dyes) fragrances etc. If you have skin allergies, eczema, psoriasis, acne or any other skin inflamation issue. Or if you are just sick of not knowing what is being absorbed by your skin after showering and toweling off, wearing your clothes all day, think undergarments…. EWW! I mean petroleum? we drive our cars on that! Phosphates, sodium lauryl sulfates and Alkyl phenoxy polyethoxy ethanols are a few more.
Trust me when I say they try and hide their ingredient list as best as possible. I am not going to scare you by listing all the evil things these ingredients do, try one, google, phenol…… yes, gross right? now think about how many times you have seen your child sucking on his blanket. Think about the fact that 60% of what goes on our skin is absorbed into your body, 60% people!

I promise this recipe is extremely easy. even easier if you have a blender or a food processor and because it is basically soap it cleans out with hot water. Easy peasy!

1 cup Vinegar (white)
add 10 drops of orange essential oil (also a great cleaner although it is optional)
1 cup Baking Soda
1 cup Washing Soda (meijer or kroger or fabric stores usually have this)

I mix the dry ingredients first, make sure you add the essential oil to the vinegar first. Slowly add the vinegar. I use a masher to mash this mess. it starts to heat and gets crunchy and brittle fast. Then I place it all in a blender or foodprocessor, pulse and add slowly. wham bam, you have laundry soap. so cost effective.

I use about 1/8 cup to a 1/4 cup depending on load size, either hot or cold water. I also always rinse my clothes in vinegar. Just put the Vinegar in the rinse cup like you would have the fabric softener, (don’t even get me started on fabric softener!) I promise they do not come out smelling like a salad, although your laundry room might. But the vinegar helps to disolve any leftover soap residue (so even if you don’t borrow my soap recipe use this vinegar rinse for your health!)
It also makes my clothes and linens nice and soft. if I need anti-static I add an old washcloth, with a little organic hair conditioner to the dryer. this helps tremendously.

FYI, washing soda is basically what Oxy clean is. yea. so if you have been paying $15 or a thing of oxy clean, sorry sucker. My boyfriend did too, until I enlightened him. And don’t jump and Borax it is not Boric acid, Borax is a naturally occuring mineral, people wash baby clothes with it. It is nice and gentle. we have been washing our clothes this way for months and well, we don’t stink, and our clothes are nice and clean and fresh. and well, I am kind of a germaphobe, and I clean my blankets all the time. Trust me, if something wasn’t be cleaned, i would be the first to know.

You can also clean your dishes in the dishwasher with Borax. um, hmm.
use equal parts of Borax and baking soda and add 2 tablespoons to your cleaning compartments. use vinegar as your rinse agent.

do you love me yet?

No related posts.