Homemade Laundry Soap

I've always enjoyed the smell of clean laundry.  I try to make wise choices about the chemicals we use in the house.  There are some cheap and easy options to at least reduce them. I had to evaluate our laundry detergent. I made some with Fels Naptha soap. I made some with Dove or something like that. It was cheaper, but the "chemical" aspect was still there. I bought some Charlie's Soap- which is very safe and I liked it just fine, but after buying it a few times, I felt a pain in my wallet. I switched back to Tide somewhere in there to see if it was any better at cleaning the clothes- it wasn't, really. (I only see cleaner clothes when I treat stains, it doesn't seem to matter which detergent.)

So, when I ran out of Charlie's the last time, I remembered I now make my own natural bar soap- so I could use THAT in homemade laundry detergent! Wow, that took me a long time to figure out, since I've been making soap for a long while now. So, here's a quick version of how to make Homemade Laundry Soap (There are a lot of recipes out there):


#1. Grate a bar of soap. You can use any kind you'd like. (Even if it is not natural, your homemade laundry detergent- per load- will save you a LOT of money.)

#2. Melt the grated soap in a pan of water until ALL the soap is melted and you have a pan of slimy water.

#3. Pour the slimy HOT water into a buck- 5 gallon if you have it. Add 1Cup of Borax and 1 Cup of Washing Soda. I did not have any at the moment, so I used baking soda. They say DON'T use baking soda- but I DO...sometimes. Stir. (I recently learned how to make BAKING soda into WASHING soda, thanks to a friend)

#4. Add more hot water to make the bucket full and stir. (I've actually been making a more concentrated laundry soap by using a 2.5 gallon bucket. Then, I just add less laundry soap per load.)

#5. It is supposed to thicken a little if you leave it overnight. Then shake it and pour it into whatever container is convenient to use.

#6. Opinions vary as to how much to use per load- Seems like 1/2 C to 1 C is a good range for the 5 gallon recipe.

It hasn't made the folding and putting away any easier, though.

Update:  I'm soon going to try the dry powder version of homemade laundry soap- to take up less space.