I have personally been using this Laundry Soap for about 6 months or so. I think it is wonderful and so easy to make! Plus it is so cheap! I love it, love it!

~ Ammiel

You can make either powdered or liquid soap with the recipe. We’ve done both, but tend to prefer the powder as it’s easier to make and store and seems to work as well as the liquid in my large, front-load washer. Note that this detergent will not create suds. This makes it very good for new, high-efficiency washing machines – but it may look really odd to you if you have a top load machine and peek in while the load is running.

Ingredients

1/3 bar Strong Soap (see below)

1/2 Cup washing soda

1/2 Cup borax

Optional – essential oil for fragrance

Equipment

Grater or food processor

3 gallon stockpot (for liquid soap)

5 gallon bucket (for liquid soap)

Stove (for liquid soap)

Stick blender (optional for liquid soap)

Air-tight container (for powder soap or extra powder to make more liquid)

Empty detergent bottle (for liquid soap) look for one with a no-spill, self-measuring lid

Directions

Note that this recipe is easily multiplied. It’s a lot easier to make a triple batch of powder than a single one. If you’re making liquid soap, you can keep the extra powder in an air tight container until you need it. That way you don’t need to store gallons of liquid at once. For both recipes you’ll need to grate the soap. I use a Cuisinart food processor and the fine grating attachment. I cut the bar in thirds and feed it into the food processor. It makes short work of the job.

Liquid Soap

If you’re going to make liquid soap you’ll need 6 cups of water and a large (3 gallon) stock pot. Put the water in the pot and put it on the stove on medium heat. Add the grated soap and stir until it dissolves. Then add the washing soda and borax and stir over heat until they are dissolved. If the mix is not dissolving well, carefully use a stick or hand blender to mix it up. Increase heat and bring pot to a boil. Boil for 15 minutes. The liquid should have about the texture of honey.

Take the pot off the heat. Mix it well with a hand blender. Once the soap is dissolved and well mixed, add enough hot water to make two gallons. Add water a quart or so at a time and mix well before adding more to keep the mixture smooth. Add a teaspoon or two of essential oil if desired. A lighter oil (less viscous) with no color is best. We like lemon and cedar,

I use about 1/2 cup per load in my large, front load washer. Make sure the lid on the bottle fits very tight, as it’s best to shake the bottle before using it.

Dry / Powdered Soap

For dry soap, just grate the bar soap and add it to the borax and soda. Stir well, then add essential oil if you want and mix again. About 1-2 Tbsp per load (depending on how dirty the clothes are) works for me.

This soap will not work well if you have very hard water. Adding extra borax to the recipe may help in this case.

A Note Regarding Bar Soaps

Regarding soaps. The most commonly available strong (lye) soap is Fels Naphtha. Fels is a lye and animal fat based soap. It used to contain Stoddard Solvent (or mineral spirits) which made it more effective at removing oily stains. Fels was an old time remedy for poison ivy. If the name or the idea that it used to contain solvents bothers you, you can substitute Octagon Soap or Zote. Fels Naphtha and Octagon are available at our local grocery and hardware stores. You’ll find Zote at a tienda.

Don’t use facial soap. It usually has added oils you don’t want and isn’t an aggressive enough cleaner for laundry.

Or if you are incredibly motivated — and handy (like Audrey is) you can make you own bar soap from lye and rendered lard.

How much does it cost:

Here is the breakdown of my costs and how I came up with those numbers (I am using the prices I paid for these items and you may find your price varies some based on what you pay):

Fels Naptha: $1.12 for a 5.5 oz bar. The recipes says use a 1/3 of a bar. I calculated 2 oz. just to make the math a little easier. The cost of the Fels Naptha per batch is: .40 cents

Washing Soda: $2.23 for a 55 oz. box. This came to .17 cents per batch. I calculated how much per oz (2.23 divided by 55) and then weighed a half cup of washing soda (4.2oz.) and multiplied my per oz. price by 4.2

Borax: $3.27 for a 76 oz. box. This came to .14 cents per batch. Did the same calculations as above, however a 1/2 cup of borax weighs 3.5 oz.

For the final numbers I have .40 + .17 + .14 = .71 for 2 gallons of laundry detergent.