OT??? Make your own laundry soap

I am not necessarily a fan of the Duggar fannily and don't care to debate t= heir choices (VBG) but I am going to try their recipe for laundry soap. I= n my research I found that you can add 1/2 cup of baking soda with the Bora= x and it will eliminate the need for fabric softener. I also read you can= use white vinegar in place of liquid fabric softener.... and your clothing= will not smell like a salad. ;-) And you can substitute Ivory bar soap = for the Fels-Naptha soap.

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I'm all for saving money and- to bring this On Topic- with lavender essenti= al oil added- it will make my quilting cottons smell wonderful!

Leslie & The Furbabies in MO.

Reply to
Leslie & The Furbabies in MO.
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I've never made my own laundry soap. Report back to us and let us know how it works? If you prewash then you are surely OT here. How are all the pooches doing? Taria

I am not necessarily a fan of the Duggar fannily and don't care to debate their choices (VBG) but I am going to try their recipe for laundry soap. In my research I found that you can add 1/2 cup of baking soda with the Borax and it will eliminate the need for fabric softener. I also read you can use white vinegar in place of liquid fabric softener.... and your clothing will not smell like a salad. ;-) And you can substitute Ivory bar soap for the Fels-Naptha soap.

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Or

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I'm all for saving money and- to bring this On Topic- with lavender essential oil added- it will make my quilting cottons smell wonderful!

Leslie & The Furbabies in MO.

Reply to
Taria

"Leslie & The Furbabies in MO." I am not necessarily a fan of the Duggar fannily and don't care to debate their choices (VBG) but I am going to try their recipe for laundry soap. In my research I found that you can add 1/2 cup of baking soda with the Borax and it will eliminate the need for fabric softener. I also read you can use white vinegar in place of liquid fabric softener.... and your clothing will not smell like a salad. ;-) And you can substitute Ivory bar soap for the Fels-Naptha soap.

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Or

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I'm all for saving money and- to bring this On Topic- with lavender essential oil added- it will make my quilting cottons smell wonderful!

Leslie & The Furbabies in MO.

I have used brown apple cider vinegar instead of fabric softener for many years, maybe 30. Mostly I use it to prevent static in my clothes, and I don't use it in all the laundry I do. Other times I might use unscented fabric softer sheets and cut them in half and use them 2 or 3 times. I also use 1/10 vinegar & water to clean the kitchen with, and on my dust cloth. I have a friend who makes her dry laundry soap and has for 5 or 6 years. I buy my liquid soap and only use half the recommended amount, using part of it on any stains, and have good results. I've done this for many years, so that a bottle that will wash 42 loads will wash at least 80 loads. (and I don't have to bother with mixing the dry stuff to make my own detergent.) I wash only with cool water, not warm or hot. HTH Barbara in SC where the cold water is usually no colder than 50 degrees----just guessing

Reply to
Bobbie Sews More

I use regular laundry detergent (Seventh Generation HE) but I do add about 1/4 cup vinegar to the rinse cycle using the fabric softener dispenser. It has some softening effect, helps rinse out any detergent that might be left, and neutralizes odors. It does not leave any odor in the clothes.

Julia in MN

Note: Fabric softeners are generally unnecessary. Fabric softener leaves a coat> I am not necessarily a fan of the Duggar fannily and don't care to

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Julia in MN

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Julia in MN

I have made and used their recipe for powdered soap for several years, and = have had great success with it. (I don't make the liquid version because I= don't like messing with large amounts of boiling water, and don't like car= rying heavy buckets of goop from my kitchen down to the basement.) =20

You can use Fels Naptha bars OR ordinary Ivory Soap bars. I use Ivory, whi= ch is easier to find, significantly less expensive, and far easier and fast= er to grate! For the grating I use my microplane. On "laundry soap day" I= just get out the ingredients, my microplane, a measuring cup, and a great = big old mixing bowl and go at it in the kitchen while NPR is on the radio. = I don't even bother to stir it up very well, because I grate soap, add the= borax and washing soda on top, give it a wee bit of a stir, and then grate= more Ivory and top it with borax and washing soda. I stir every "layer" a = bit, and then make more layers. When I run out of Ivory soap bars, or when = the bowl is getting really full, I'm finished. I store the soap in a large= plastic bucket with a lid, and have a tablespoon on top. As for how much t= o use, I have a top-loading washing machine, and use 1 tablespoon for ordin= ary loads. For extra-dirty loads I use 2 tablespoons.

I'm not a big fan of the Duggers, either, but decided to try their laundry = soap recipe simply because so many commercial laundry soaps have added ingr= edients that make me itch like crazy. This stuff does not. It works very = well, and if you want to watch it, take a tablespoon or two of it in a sand= wich baggie to the laundromat and use it to wash a bedspread in one of the = giant front-loader machines with a window in the door. I find that my laun= dry comes out completely clean, with no odor, and with nothing that makes m= e itch.

If you don't have large plastic buckets with lids handy, go to the bakery a= t the local grocery store and ask to buy a couple of the ones they use and = then usually throw away. My grocery will sell a 5 gallon bucket with lid f= or $1. You can also scrub out the plastic buckets that come with latex pai= nt. You probably would want to avoid plastic buckets that come with lawn c= hemicals, of course. =20

I suggest you give the powdered version a try and see what you think. Make= a small batch as a trial.

Reply to
Mary

their choices (VBG) but I am going to try their recipe for laundry soap. In my research I found that you can add 1/2 cup of baking soda with the Borax and it will eliminate the need for fabric softener. I also read you can use white vinegar in place of liquid fabric softener.... and your clothing will not smell like a salad. ;-) And you can substitute Ivory bar soap for the Fels-Naptha soap.

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oil added- it will make my quilting cottons smell wonderful!

Leslie, I use the same technique as Julia and add regular vinegar to the fabric softener dispenser in the top loading machine. I find it helps rinse out detergent and acts as a fabric softener. And I have used this method for more years than I care to count but at least since my oldest was born in 63.

Judie

Reply to
Judie

There is nothing new about that recipe. People have been combining hard soap with borax and soda ash to do laundry for at least a hundred years.

When I was a kid a couple of my grammas would just chuck the whole bar of Fels Naptha into the tub of the wringer washer, and add the borax and the soda.

We often use vinegar in the rinse at my house. Always with silk or wool, often with anything that might have picked up a smell. I am death on fabric softeners because to me they don't make things feel soft, they make them feel a bit greasy and the pile feels weird on anything that has one. Everybody else thinks I'm bonkers. Anyway that doesn't happen with vinegar. I count vinegar not leaving a smell as a plus. I don't care for the smell of most laundry products, though they are a whiff of fresh air compared to the horrible stench of the alleged odor killing products.

You might care to look into soap nuts. I've not tried them yet, but I've a friend who swears by them and says that while it is an expense up front they are a lot cheaper than buying laundry soap in the long run.

NightMist

Reply to
NightMist

You've just mentioned what I was going to mention, which is the soapnuts.

Haven't tried them myself, would love to know how to use them, as over here they sell them alongside bicarb (i think) and essential oils. So don't know how much to use and when to use the essential oils etc.

Thanks

Janner France

Reply to
Janner

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There are several places that turn up in a google search. This one is not only at the top but has one of the simplest and clearest explanations.

As you see, the easiest thing is to just tie a few in a cloth bag and toss them in the washer. Reuse them until they start to get mushy.

The friend I mentioned bought a 2 kilo economy pack and expects that they will last her and her DH at least two years. YMMV

You can add essential oils to any laundry process. Just put some, how much depends on the strength of the oil, in any liquid, shake well and add as or after the washer fills. Most liquid soap holds it in suspension quite nicely if you want it in a form to keep handy on the shelf. You can also put them in a small amount of alcohol and spray that over any sort of salt while mixing with a spoon. Just like you do to make scented bath salts out of plain epsom salts. Then just put some of the salt in with the laundry.

NightMist

Reply to
NightMist

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