Betty Homemaker...

I’ve been interested in making my own laundry soap for a while, but just haven’t had the time. I am not a fan of powder laundry soap, and it seems that is all you can find for homemade laundry soap. I’ve pinned a lot of things on Pinterest that I will probably never do, but I ran into this laundry soap recipe and it sounded easy enough for even me to do! I have tons of jars from the things my hubby canned this summer. (I hate to admit it, BUT Yes, Daniel is WAY more domestic than I am…) and this recipe called for storing in quart-size jars. Below are the instructions:

• Makes 4 quarts (1 gallon) of concentrate- that is 256 loads of laundry!
• I put a tablespoon in while the washer is filling up (before I put the clothes in)
• I was able to find all of the ingredients in the laundry isle of WalMart.

What you need:

2 bars Fels Naptha
2 cups 20 Mule Team Borax
2 cups Arm & Hammer Washing Soda (this is different from baking soda!)
6 cups of hot water (+ or – as needed)

Steps:

*I started out by grating my 2 bars of Fels Naptha into a bowl. I bought a small hand grater at the dollar store, because I didn’t want to use my good one.. It worked pretty good, just took a bit longer. When I was almost done I put 6 cups of water on the stove to heat up.

Grated Fels Naptha

*I let the water almost boil before I added the soap to the water. You will want to keep stirring until the soap is completely melted. ** Make sure not to let this boil, you will have soap EVERYWHERE** It took about 15-20 minutes for the soap to completely dissolve.

The soap is almost disloved. FYI not a good idea to try baking and making laundry soap.. Everything ends up tasting like soap.

*When the soap has melted completely, turn off the head and add the Borax and Washing Soda. You will have to stir, stir and stir some more. It was about 3 minutes before the powder was fully dissolved into a liquid. (I had to add a bit of water here to get the powder to fully dissolve)

My cute little helper!

*The directions I was using said to pour the liquid into 4 quart jars. Add enough water to bring the soap up to the “shoulders” of the jar. Put lids on the jars and let them sit about 8 hours. (I had a big jar from some grape juice Daniel had made, so I used it. I don’t recommend doing that until the last step. It was really hard to get the soap out of that big of jar.) 

*The soap in the jars will separate while it is standing, which is ok, because the next step is to mix it. The gel soap should be on the bottom and a firmer soap towards the top. I had a few crystals form at the bottom of my jar. (I just used a bit of water to rinse them out.)

*Take one of the jars (this is where I wished I had separated the soap into multiple jars. It was a bit compacted in that big jar.) and use a knife to cut into the jar, like you would cut a pie. Pour it into a blending bowl (I’m still rocking the hand blender from 8 years ago.. so I just used that and a big mixing bowl.)

*I started on the lowest speed and increased the speed gradually as the soap became more “soft”. You will know you are done mixing when your soap looks like REALLY THICK, pale yellow whipped cream. (I mixed a small batch with more water so it was runny to see which batch I like better.)

*Your last step will be to spoon the blended soap back into the quart jars. You might even get another jar full of soap after mixing. Put a lid on the jars and you soap should keep for a really long time. You can now buy plastic lids for canning jars, which are very handy! As time goes on the soap may get firmer, but you will still be able to spoon it out.

Finished product!!

Just to warn you if you are used to using liquid laundry soap.. This laundry soap is more firm and it is best to dissolve the soap first in the water before putting any clothes in. I think the next time I make this recipe I will add more water to make it a bit more like liquid. I found a drink dispenser at the dollar store that will be perfect for the next batch. Keep in mind the more water you add the less concentrated the laundry soap will be. You will need to add a bit more than a tablespoon if you add more water.