Homemade Laundry Soap & The Wonders of Super Washing Soda

I stumbled upon this recipe a few months back when I was looking for different ways to save money. I found it on the CMOMB website. It has worked fabulous and was little work. I am still using the batch I made in early June & will probably need to make some more in mid-September. I think that it probably cost me about $3 total for this batch. I will be looking at more recipes that do not have chemicals such as the laureth sulfate in it. I still need to do more research there. I am all about having less chemicals in the house and in the products that we use. But the catch is that it has to be cheaper or the same price than what I am already doing - for obvious reasons for those who know how important it is to stay within a budget.

Liquid Homemade Laundry Soap (by Ruth)
1 bar Felz Napta
1 bar Ivory
1 bar Castille
1/3 bar Lirio (Mexican bar)
1 C borax
1 C washing soda
lots of drops of essential oil of your choice
6 gallon vinegar jugs or milk jugs (emptied)

Grate all bars. Melt over medium heat in about 1-2 Quarts of water. Dissolve Borax and soda in 5 gallons of water, add liquefied bars, pour hot into 1 gallon vinegar jugs (milk jugs work too) leaving about 5" at the top for shaking as they gel hard.

According to Ruth, she does about 15 loads per week and it lasts her about 4 weeks. Mine has lasted longer because I actually forgot where I was in my measuring and ended up adding double the water. But nonetheless, my clothes have still come out just as clean & bright as when I was using TIDE.

Now the question is where can you find these soaps?

I had to order the Felz Napta (though I later found it at Kroger) and the Castille from Soaps Gone Buy for $1.25 each.

You can find the bar of Ivory with your bath soaps. I found the Lirio at HEB & I am pretty sure that I saw it at Kroger.

Borax and Washing Soda Can both be found in the laundry section of most grocery stores (I was amazed to find out that Wal-Mart did not have it atleast we nor any of the workers could find it). The Washing Soda is normally next to the borax in a yellow box.

For the initial time it cost me more than the $3 dollars but once you have several bars of Ivory and the borax, lirio, and washing soda you will not have to spend as much the next time.

Now on to the washing soda. When I discovered how wonderful this stuff was - I had to wonder why no one had told me about how wonderful this stuff was. I mix a little bit in my mop bucket with water, and vinegar to mop the kitchen. It removes dirt far greater than any of the other mopping or general purpose cleaners than I have found. It is great for cleaning your bathtub. For example - I had not gotten around to my bathtub in a couple of weeks (yeah - letting
you in on that I haven't been the best housekeeper the last few weeks) and there was a lot of dirt grime stuff. I sprayed the tub down with water & then sprinkled the tub with the washing soda, and then I sprayed vinegar over the soda. I let it sit for 30 minutes or so while I cleaned up after breakfast. When I came back, I pretty much just had to wipe it away, there were a few places I had to put a little muscle behind it, but not nearly as much as I have to do with most other cleaners - even when I let them sit! Oh, and the great thing is that I spent no more than 3 dollars on a box this stuff back in June & have been able to use it for laundry and cleaning various things.

Borax also has many uses - one being that sometimes Micah will leak through on her mattress. I spritz the mattress with water, sprinkle borax, let it dry, and then vacuum it up & the odor is gone!

I have been meaning to share some of these great & cheap finds with all my friends for a while. Please feel free to share any of your money saving, less chemical ideas with me. Hope you enjoyed hearing about some of the things I wish someone would have shared with me years ago.