I started making laundry soap a while back. The first batch I made was a powdered soap. It seemed to work fine, but it was more clumpy than powdery and I worried about its dissolving abilities in the washing machine. Though I never saw any spots or clumps stuck to any clothes or left over in the basin once a cycle was done. Either way, it wasn't cost-effective. It required the use of castille soap, while an awesome soap and multi-functional, is a little pricey. This new mix equals >$.05 per load. I'd say that's pretty damned frugal.
It's recipe #7 off the list. I only made a half batch to start. It was surprisingly simple. For some reason before making it I couldn't get my head around cooking soap; it just seemed like it would be so messy. I was, of course, neglecting to remember that it's soap. When I was done I just had to rinse. I grated half a bar of soap and dissolved it in water, but didn't boil. I had another pot of water heating on the back burner that I was adding to my bin while I was dissolving. Then I added some washing soda to the water until it was dissolved and added the soap mixture and stirred it all around. When it cooled we ended up with this awesome gel-soap. I feel like my clothes are cleaner and smell a little nicer too. That fresh smell is from the bar soap addition, I'm sure. Check back in a few more years and I am willing to bet I'll be making the bar soap that goes in here too.
Yay! There's an adult ed class here on making bar soap. I really want to go! If i do I'll share with you what I find out. What soap did you use? I use yucky bad laundry soap bars because sometimes working construction/ aka smelly dirty clothes / I felt like I needed as much borax and soap power as I could get... :) I have to make mine pretty runny because my other household members don't always understand the true concept of "really concentrated"... :)
ReplyDeletePlease do let me know your secrets. I am thinking of getting a soap making book too. I used Lever 2000 because I was in a pinch for laundry, had run out of soap and didn't have the car at my disposal. I ended up biking up to the little corner mart and that was the cheapest bar they had. :)
ReplyDeleteVery cool. What is washing soda, and where did you get it?
ReplyDeleteIt's an alkaline powder similar to baking soda, but not. You can find it at any grocer in the laundry aisle.
ReplyDeleteSide note: I was listening to the radio this morning and they were talking about how petroleum is used in everything, including laundry detergents! There is starting to be a push to use more bio compounds. I was happy though, because I know exactly what is in my laundry detergent, and it's not petroleum-based!