As you know I have several items on my goals list this year. I’ve recently decided that I would like to add one more thing; get back to a simpler more frugal lifestyle. That can mean something different to everyone. What that means to me is this: eat more whole homemade foods, make as many things at home as possible and just save the family money any way that I can. With that being said here is what Coobs (Kennedy) and I made today.
Homemade Laundry Soap
I first saw the recipe on Diary of a Stay at Home Mom’s website and then again on Aubut Family website. The two recipes are almost exactly the same except one used 3 bars of soap in the recipe and the other only uses 1. So I decided to meet in the middle and use 2.
4 lb. 12 oz. box of Borax
4 lb. box Arm & Hammer Baking Soda
3 lb. 7 oz. box Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda
2 bars of Fels-Naptha soap (or Zote)
3 lb. container of Oxy Clean, or two of the smaller ones, to make about 3lbs
1 container Purex Fabric Softener Crystals
4 lb. box Arm & Hammer Baking Soda
3 lb. 7 oz. box Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda
2 bars of Fels-Naptha soap (or Zote)
3 lb. container of Oxy Clean, or two of the smaller ones, to make about 3lbs
1 container Purex Fabric Softener Crystals
Start out by turning your bars of soap into a powder. One website used a cheese grater and another said to microwave it for 4 minutes it will foam up like a marshmallow. Let it cool down completely and it will turn into a powdery substance when you break it apart.
I wasn’t too sure about either method so I went with the microwave one. I put both bars in for 3 minutes. I should have taken the wrappers off completely, oops. What happened was one bar didn’t foam up all the way, which worked out in the end. The puffed up parts didn’t crumble like I thought they would. We couldn’t get the soap to break down to a powder.
So I used a cheese grater on the rest which I liked better anyways. I ran it on the finest side of my 4 side cheese grater and it turned into a nice powder. I will definitely be using the cheese grater from now on.
Now for the huge container I would need to mix it up in. We had an extra empty plastic kitty litter pail leftover so I scrubbed it out really well then dried it with a clean towel.
Kennedy helped me pour all the ingredients in and mix them up. We poured in a little of each at a time until everything was in. I did have to tip the container to the side a few times to get the stuff on the bottom mixed up well.
Store and use however you like. Use 1 to 2 tablespoons per load.
