Homemade Laundry Soaps

I made laundry soap recently and have a tutorial and recipes for powdered and liquid laundry soaps.

I have to say making the batch of liquid laundry soap was quite an adventure!

Above I have the supplies used to make laundry soap:

1 gallon Distilled Water

Homemade Lard Soap

Borax & Washing Soda

I grated my one pound block of homemade laundry soap using a cheese grater and weighed out 2.5 ounces, then measured out 1/2 cup of Washing Soda and 1/2 cup of Borax.  

While I was grating my soap I had 4 cups of Distilled Water on the stove coming to a boil.  When it started to boil I added it to the grated homemade soap and stirred till it was dissolved, then I added the 1/2 cup Washing Soda and stirred till it was dissolved, then added the 1/2 cup Borax and stirred till it was dissolved.     

I actually doubled the recipe for the liquid soap so it made three quarts of liquid laundry soap.  I set it aside to cool and went to work on the powdered laundry soap which actually uses the same ingredients and measurements but excludes the distilled water.

If you use the blender to mix the dry ingredients it makes a nice fine powder.  I did have to stop the blender and take the glass pitcher part off and turn it upside down a few times to help mix it.  A food processor would work well too I'm sure.  Maybe next time!

Here's the powdered laundry soap.

It's hard to see in my picture above but I noticed that my liquid laundry soap behind the blender was starting to separate.  Not a real big deal...  I figured I could shake it up before using it.  But when I put my silicon spatula in the jar to stir it up I had a solidifying white mass above the water, hmmm.

That got me to thinking I have the blender out so why not pour a jar out into the blender and see what happens...

Now I have liquid laundry soap the consistency of Cool Whip!  I wasn't sure what to do next with it so I let it cool and watched to see if it separated.  Ahhh Nope...  I suppose that's a good sign but wondered how it was going to work in the clothes washer.    

The next morning I had the idea to dilute the liquid laundry soap using a 1 to 1 ratio and mix it together with my stick blender.  

So I measured out 2 cups of laundry soap fluff to 2 cups of distilled water and mixed it with my stick blender.  Ok, that's about the right consistency now!  

After diluting all the laundry soap I poured most of it in an upcycled one gallon  vinegar container and the remainder in the empty gallon water bottle.  After letting it rest for about an hour I noticed it was separating.  I've been keeping an eye on it and trying to shake it up to mix it together again and it's working now.  I labeled my liquid laundry soaps "shake before using".  

The next time I make this I will adjust the recipe and experiment a little more.

The best part about this laundry soap experiment was I figured out the cost for my batch of liquid and powder laundry soap.  For $4.06 I have 1 1/2 gallons of liquid laundry soap and 3 pounds 5 ounces of powdered laundry soap.  Even though I had to put in some extra time to get the consistency right I think it was worth it!

Here are the recipes for you:

Powdered Laundry Soap

2.5 oz grated Lard soap

1/2 cup Washing Soda

1/2 cup Borax

Mix together in the blender or food processor for a good consistency.  

Use 2 tablespoons per load of laundry.

Liquid Laundry Soap

(the revised recipe)

2.5 oz. grated  Lard Soap

1/2 cup Washing Soda

1/2 cup Borax

7 cups boiling water (distilled)

Pour boiling water in bowl mix in Lard soap till dissolved, mix in 1/2 cup Washing Soda till dissolved, mix in 1/2 cup Borax till dissolved.  I'd let it sit till it's cool before pouring into containers to see if it separates.  If it starts to separate you could try mixing it in the blender...  I haven't needed a second batch yet so I'm not sure if my recipe revision is going to work.  Use 1/3 to 1/2 cup per load of laundry.  

The original recipe came from Cathy at Soaping 101 on You Tube.  I made laundry soap about 9 months ago from a different recipe for under $20.00 that you can find here.  I was happy with it, it worked well and lasted 8 months.  This recipe looked fun because I was actually "making" one of the components that goes into it, the soap.

If you'd rather not make your own Lard Soap for this recipe I have several bars for sale in my Sudz n' Hunni Soaps web store ready and waiting to help with your laundry needs!

I hope you enjoyed my adventure in making homemade laundry soap!

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