Frugal Thoughts - Homemade Laundry Soap

Wash Day at the Hoyt Household. No, I do not use a wash board, yet. I really do love my old apartment sized stackable washer and dryer, it's just my electric bill that I am not in love with. My Grandmother Murphy is to blame. She was the most frugal do it yourself person I ever had the pleasure of knowing.

I found this old photo of George and I during our hippie days. That's me playing the washboard.

Just fooling, it's not us! Just couldn't resist. Ok on with my purpose.

About a year ago while pinching pennies I discovered that even though we are only a family of three we were going through a minimum of $16 dollars worth of laundry soap a month. Usually we spent $20 to $24 a month. Just not acceptable here at the Micro-Mansion. How ever can I afford my Chocolate Bon-Bons spending that much on soiled laundry.

So I Googled and Youtubed and prayed and low and behold the Lord sent an answer in the form of my friend Dana Thorne. She had been holding out on her home-school group! Right under our very noses she had been making laundry soap for the past year. She graciously agreed to demonstrate, and the rest is sudsy history.

So here it is the recipe for A Bucket Full of Laundry Soap. I really like it and I have only spent $16 to $20 dollars on laundry soap (total) in the past year. For really grimy clothes (oily, gasoline, cow poop, etc.) I either use more soap or wash clothes twice. Usually I just wash the really nasty stuff twice and everything works out great. I do spot treat for food stains that have dye in the spilled food item. You can whip this out in about 30 minutes once you get the hang of it.

Items needed for Laundry Soap (makes 4 gallons at a time):

Five Gallon Bucket with lid

2/3 bar of Fels-Naptha soap (type of soap made for washing clothes look for it in the supermarket laundry isle)

1 cup of Borax (I have increased this from original recipe to get my little boys jeans to come out cleaner)

1 cup of Washing Soda (not the same thing as Baking soda but made by the same company)

Essential oil (I don't add this. But I might in the future just to help fight bacteria [lemon, lavender,orange act as an antibacterial) and give the clothes a nice fragrance)

Then after you have gathered all your goodies and have grated your soap do the following:

* Select a pan that will hold a quart or two of water easily.

* Measure out 4 gallons of hot tap water into your bucket.

* From the bucket remove enough water to fill your pan about half way
(this is just an easy way to keep the water ratio correct)

* Place pan with water on stove and heat to medium low (you don't want
to boil this)

* Grate soap finely (I use a cheese grater), break up any large pieces.

* Slowly add soap to hot water that is in pan on stove, stir until dissolved

* Slowly add Borax and Washing Soda after soap is dissolved (may foam up on
you if heat is to high, if it does just reduce heat and keep stirring)

* Continue stirring until everything looks dissolved

* Pour pan into your bucket of hot water and stir (add essential oils at
this time if you are using them, just a few drops go a long way)

* Cover and let set overnight then it is ready to use (stir before using)

* 1/2 cup per load (experiment for your washer size, yes this is low sudsing
so it is safe in HE washers)


The soap might look watery or it might be almost a gel like consistency both are normal (humidity causes weird things to happen). Just stir it up good before use. I keep my big bucket of soap stored out of the way and just fill up an old empty laundry soap container with my homemade soap and keep that beside my washing machine. You do need to shake your bottle before each use.

Locally (Oklahoma) you can find items at:
Fels-Naptha soap can be purchased at United or Homeland in B'ville
Borax can be found in most stores in the laundry isle.
Washing Soda can be found at Hometown foods in Pawhuska
5 Gallon Buckets can be found at Atwoods or Lowe's
Essential oils can be found at Walmart or Jude's Health food in B'ville

If you want you can try this for Inexpensive Fabric Softener

Recipe #1

1 Cup White Vinegar
Add vinegar to rinse cycle. Works great. Removes residue and odors. Also helps to keep washing machine and hoses fresh and clean too.
( I use this one once in a while, the vinegar smell dissipates and your clothes just come out smelling clean)

Recipe #2

1 Container of Name Brand Fabric Softener
4 Inexpensive sponges, cut in half
5 gallon Bucket

Pour entire container of softener into a 5 gallon bucket. Fill empty softener container with water twice (2 parts water to 1 part softener). Add sponges to softener/water mixture. When ready to use wring out extra mixture from one sponge and add to the dryer as you would a dryer sheet.

Have fun experimenting with ways to be a good steward of your resources!
I always feel so domestic and useful when I make my soap! LOL

Blessings my friends and happy soap making!