Homemade Laundry Soap

I have always had an urge to learn more about cleaning products and them chemicals that are in them. However, with all the food stuff I have not had time to really dig into cleaning products. Lately I have slowly began to look into things that would be more cost effective and truly chemically free!

I began this journey late in the summer when my friend gave me a recipe for homemade laundry soap. I bought the ingredients not really knowing what was in them but figured it was better than a "Tide" type laundry soap, that is loaded with multiple harsh chemicals. When I made the soap one of the ingredients smelled strong and was suspicious of chemicals, but again I thought better than "Tide".

Well, last week I ran out of my homemade laundry soap and researched the bar soap that I had used that "smelled" like there were chemicals in it and I was right, there were a bunch. So, I did a little more research and found out that I could use a glycerin based bar soap and use the same recipe and then it would be truly chemically free!

SO....here is the recipe I used.
I bar of glycerin soap, grated (we used a lilic scented one)
4 c. Water
1 c. Super Washing Soda (NOT BAKING SODA)
1/2 c. Borax
5 gallon bucket

Boil the 4 c. of water and add grated soap, melt fully! Fill 5 gallon bucket 1/2 way with hot water- tap water is fine it does not need to be boiling. Pour super washing soda and borax into the 1/2 bucket of hot water and stir. Pour in melted soapy water and stir. Fill the rest of the 5 gallon bucket with hot water and stir. Put lid on and let sit for 24 hours. Stir and use a funnel to pour desired amount into a storage container (I use my old laundry soap bottle- I bottle up small amounts to keep in my laundry room and keep the rest in the 5 gallon bucket until needed).

I now have chemically clean clothes at a fraction of the price of the laundry soap I was buying that was suppose to be "safe" but had lots of ingredients that I could not read. So, I am now happy with my laundry soap. This was a super fun thing to do with my kids, they just love melting, mixing, and bubbling! Hmmmmm, what next?