Laundry soap

No it’s not St Patricks Day, but I do have green laundry soap. Actually I make it myself and it’s so simple, even a leprechaun* can do it. I was making my own laundry soap long before I moved off grid. It started out as a desire to make and use something that cost less and worked better than the stuff I could get from the grocery store. I found recipe after recipe on line, some are so complicated that it’s not worth the time or trouble. I settled on a simple recipe and I have been very satisfied with the results.

...this is all you need...

Here is the recipe:

• grated bar soap (I prefer using a castile soap, but any plain, soap like Ivory will work)
• washing soda (not baking soda)
• borax (I use 20 Mule Team borax)

You mix equal parts of each ingredient. What I do is grate a bar or two of soap, then I measure how much I have. then that’s how much of the next 2 ingredients I use, just be sure you have equal proportions, do not pack any of the ingredients as you measure. Now for the unbelievable part, you use 2-3 tablespoons of the mix PER LOAD. I promise that’s all you need, it will not suds up, you will be afraid that you don’t have enough, but I assure you, it’s more than enough, even for the dirtiest loads.

Soap in a coffee can...

The bar of soap needs to be a plain soap, no moisturizing or exfoliating soaps. The drier the bar the easier it is to grate, some soaps are too moist and they get mucky/gooey when you try to grate them. On the other extreme, if the bar is very dry, be careful when you grate it, do not breathe the dust, the latest batch I made was made with some very old bars of Ivory soap, they were so dry, they almost disintegrated into fine powdery dust. The way I managed it was to put a dish towel over the can where I was grating the soap, it contained the cloud of soap dust, it’s not pleasant to breathe. You can use a food processor to grate your bars of soap, again just be careful not to breathe the dust when you open the processor.

The best part, besides the fact that my clothes and other laundry always come out clean, they smell so fresh (no extra fragrances are added), and I noticed that my laundry comes out softer, I use much less fabric softener.

I had been making my own laundry soap for a number of years before moving off grid, but when I was getting things together to move, my Dad bought a mega-huge bucket of laundry soap from one of those monster club warehouse stores, it’s taken me almost a year to go through all of it, but I have finally started scraping the bottom of the bucket, whew! It was laundry day, so I needed to make some laundry soap, I already had the washing soda and the borax, but didn’t have much in the way of bar soaps. I found a partially used bar of soap behind the sink, I looked around to make sure no one was looking, then grabbed the soap and my box grater. I grated the soap into an empty coffee can, then eyeballed the rest of the ingredients. As I scooped the tiny amount of powder into the washing machine, I kept thinking, this isn’t enough, but I know better and threw the clothes in without a second thought.

...the finished soap...

I can’t believe how nice my clothes felt when I took them from the dryer, so soft, so fresh, it’s amazing how much residue is left over when you use commercial laundry soap, I can really tell the difference. This is also so economical, I don’t have a dollar figure, but I assure you, it’s CHEAP, and it works better! Plus it’s septic safe. One warning though, because of the borax, do not allow the soapy water to run outside on any plants, it will kill plants. If your gray water flows out into a place with plants you wish to keep, then omit the borax. Of course, if you have some unwanted greenery, then pour the leftover wash water on the offending plants and they should shrivel up and die. ;)

Some recipes call of adding this mix to boiling water to make liquid soap, I find it to be unnecessary, the powder dissolves just fine, even in cold water. Leaving it in its powdered form also takes up less room. On the occasions when I feel that I need some bleach, I add one of those oxygen powered bleaches like Oxypower. I don’t usually use chlorine bleach, I don’t have anything against it, I use it around my house in a spray bottle to clean and disinfect the sink and things like that, but for clothes, I find that chlorine bleach tends to weaken fabrics, in other words, it eats your clothes. If I have a stain that is on a white fabric, then I will spray the spot with bleach water from my sprayer, but I do not pour chlorine bleach into the laundry. These are just my methods, your’s may be different.

I found a site that sells a “make your own laundry soap kit“, I don’t know that I would go to that much trouble, but if you can’t find the ingredients listed above, then why not go for it. Honestly though, you should be able to find everything in your local stores, the only part you might have a tough time finding is washing soda, you could ask the manager at your grocery store to order it for you, or you can order it on line if need be.

*No little people, real or fictional were injured. killed, abused, embarrassed or teased (much) in the writing of this message or in the making of the laundry soap.

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