I think I’m a reasonable shopper. I like a good deal as well as the next person, but I don’t mind paying for items of good quality. All too often, though, my shopping list includes laundry detergent, and the price of quality brands really bugs me.
Over the years, I’ve made my own laundry soap from time to time, with very good cleaning results, but my efforts always petered out because I disliked finely grating the bar soap needed to make the granular recipe I’d been using. A little while ago, still steaming over the price of Tide, I drove home wondering why I couldn’t make laundry soap in liquid form.
After some Googling and a bit of experimenting, I’ve hit on my favourite way to get the laundry clean. It contains only old-fashioned, tried and true ingredients, and my laundry is clean and soft.
If you have a spare half hour or so, why not give it a try? This soap is a thick, scoopable consistency, kind of like peanut butter, just not sticky!
INGREDIENTS
1 bar of Linda soap (9.5 oz / 270 gm)
OR a similar amount of Sunlight, Fels Naptha, or other laundry bar soap
2 c. Borax
2 c. Washing Soda
** In Ontario I can easily find these ingredients in my local No Frills store.
6 c. boiling water
2 c. hot water
An immersion blender.
METHOD
You will need two containers in which to mix and store your soap. I used two family-size peanut butter jars, but any container of that size with a lid will do.
- Roughly chop the soap and put half into each container.
2. Pour three cups of boiling water into each container, covering the pieces of soap. (Oops! One of my jars warped a bit from the heat.) Let sit for fifteen or twenty minutes.
3. Using the immersion blender, blend the water and softened soap until smooth.
Add 1 c. Borax, and 1 c. Washing Soda to each container and blend in the granules.
Add 1 c. hot tap water to each container and blend until silky smooth.
And that’s it! Keep the lids off until the soap has cooled, then store in the laundry room.
HOW TO USE
(HE front loaders and top loading machines)
- 1 Tablespoon per load (it is very concentrated)
- Don’t put in the detergent dispenser. Put directly on clothes where the water comes into your washer. It dissolves quickly.
** I usually use a warm wash, but these ingredients have been recommended for use with cold water washes on other sites. **
I’ve made my laundry soap for many years. Same ingredients but not so concentrated. This is much better .. you need fewer containers!! Less storage space. Thank you.
I never did make the other version. It just seemed like too much water. I love this one though. And it’s so easy!