Tuesday, February 17, 2009
liquid-gel laundry soap tutorial
There are several DIY Laundry Soap recipes out there, I chose this one because my friend uses it on a daily basis and swears by it. She has four small children and a busy hubby. I figure if it is good enough for her, then it is good enough for me!
At 320 full loads per batch (TEN GALLONS!) this is well worth the cost (about $5.00!) and the hassle. The worst part is grating the bar of soap, which is just a tad more difficult than grating cheese. (just a tad, really, because it's soap and you can't nibble while you work.) You can always do what I did and enlist the help of someone big and burly. Tally up the time involved and it will be about an hour - tops.
Also, I need to warn you that this soap starts out as a liquid, then turns into a gel as it sits. Like Jello, seriously. You will need to stir it, shake it, or whatever you want to get it to liquefy again. Once it is a liquid again it is Sliiiiiii-mey! Like dinosaur goo, kind of creepy. Then again, I never went elbow deep into any of my other laundry soaps, so maybe they were slimy also? Oh well, you only have to do the elbow deep thing once, if you want, or you can find a long study stirring stick and avoid the slime altogether, I just went in! I digress. When it sits, it gels, so each time you use it, give the bottle a good shake. Easy enough.
NO DYES. NO PERFUMES. (unless you want to add 5-10 drops of your favourite essential oil) Safe for septic systems. Safe to use in front load and high efficiency washers. I think it works great. The clothes come out of the dryer with out a scent per sey, but smelling fresh, and feeling good to the touch. To me, I think this soap rinses out more efficiently than my other brands of soap did, hence the good feel to the fabric. This is basic stuff here folks, not quite Little House on the Prairie, but basic good soap.
The way I look at it is, if you have to save money, if you have to cut back and scrimp, wouldn't laundry soap be the place to start? I mean, better than say, eliminating those cute shoes you saw last week? Yeah, I thought so too.
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7 comments:
Wow -- now that is crunchy! This makes me really grateful for Walmart. :)
But for that amount of soap and the cost, I may have to look into this more seriously...
I saw this when you put it on you tube. I think it is great! There are all kinds of people talking about this on the net but I haven't found a video tutorial at all. Very nicely done!
I'll definitely giving this a try (it looks easy) and of course adding the essential oil to mine.
Real Mom, if you can find a few minutes...yes, it's worth the hassle!
Robyn, lavender? If I had some I might add it as well, I just have been too lazy to go buy some!
That is the coolest thing ever. You rock. I'm totally going to try it. Thanks!!
Heather, we have been using it now for about a month and it seems to be doing the trick. Thanks for stopping by! I hope it works for you as well!
I clicked over from MMW. I am going to make some of this tonight to share at HFPE tomorrow night. I first learned about making your own detergent about 10 years ago, and all the talk on MMW and your awesome tutorial have finally motivated me. Plus the fact that I'm going to share it at HFPE, meaning that if I end up not liking it, I won't have quite so much to use up and/or possibilities of others to pass it on to.
Not to be a know-it-all, but I noticed that the ingredients you pictured show that you used Arm and Hammer laundry detergent as opposed to washing soda. (The box says "laundry detergent" in small print on the lower left side of the front. I had to study them all at the store to find this fine print myself.) The washing soda I finally found is in a box the same size as your borax, same A & H yellow, with the words "washing soda" as it's clear title on the front.
I made some today! Yay. finally got around to it and I am so glad. I am tired of paying $8 - $10 everytime I run out of soap!
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