Laundry Soap

A few months ago, I experimented in making my own laundry soap. I've been using it for a couple of months and decided I really like it.  I finally ran out of the batch I made, so while making a new batch, I documented the process for you.

You will need: 

* 1/2 cup Washing soda (not the same thing as baking soda)

* 1/2 cup Borax

* 1 bar of Ivory soap (or 1/3 bar of Fels Naptha)

* essential oil (optional)

* container that can hold at least 1.5 gallons (I use one with a spout for easy pouring)

* grater, pot, spoon and stove (not pictured)

Step one: Grate the soap

Step two: put soap flakes in pot with 6 cups of water and heat until soap dissolves

(Before the soap dissolves, it kind of looks like thick potato flakes.)

Step three: add 1/2 cup washing soda

and 1/2 cup Borax

and stir until it's dissolved and remove from heat.

Step 4: pour 4 cups of hot water into your container

Step 5: Add soap mixture and stir.

Step 6: Add one gallon plus 6 cups of water and stir (note: one gallon is 16 cups.) If you choose to add essential oil, now is the time to do it.

Step 7: Let soap sit for 24 hours to gel up.  Use 1/2 cup per load.

A couple of things to know:

* The soap sort of a watery gel. I keep it in the basement (where my laundry facilities are) and found that it had a tendency to harden.  A good shake of the container before trying to pour the soap loosened things up a bit.

* This soap doesn't suds up, so don't get worried when it doesn't. You can still use your usual pretreater or bleach if you feel like you need to.