Duds Suds - DIY laundry soap

Welcome back!

     It’s a breezy spring day on the farm, and I’m spending it doing laundry.  The windows and doors are open to let in all the sunshine and fresh air we can before the sun goes down.  It’s kind of amazing how fast the temperature can change after sundown here.  Sometimes as much as 50 degrees can separate the daily high from the daily low.  This would be a lovely day to hang a wash out on the line, if I had a line.  The breeze would flap the sheets like flags, filling them with the smells of sunshine, cut grass, flowers, and maybe just a hint of clover.  We’re still getting our ducks in a row over here, though, and a clothesline hasn’t happened yet. 

     Since I have some time between loads, I thought I’d share my laundry soap recipe and my experiences with homemade laundry soap with you. 

     The first recipe I tried was a five-gallon bucket full of liquid detergent.  I imagine y'all have seen the recipe before, 4c Washing Soda, 4c Borax, 4c grated soap (or 4 bars, or sometimes an amount of Fels Naptha or Zote is listed).  You melt the soap in a gallon of water, pour it into a five-gallon bucket, add the washing soda and borax, add some more hot water, stir-stir-stir-stir-stir until you’re just about ready to give up, then top it off with some more hot water.  ¼c per load was the recommended dosage, and it’s supposed to work better than commercial stuff. 

     It does work, and well.  It actually does seem to get stains out better than the commercial stuff, but it’s a bit of a pain in the butt.  First off, what happened with mine was, despite all that stirring, the soap floated to the top, solidified, and became a constant aggravation whenever I needed to do laundry.  I had to keep a big stick with my bucket, and every time I did a load, I’d have to stir the snot out of it to get it to even partially resemble and incorporated liquid.  Inevitably, there were lumps of solid soap in some loads, and no soap at all in others, just a solution of borax and washing soda.  Also, it doesn’t rinse out clean if you have soft water.  I didn’t at the time, but I do now, so that one just didn’t work out for me. 

     Next, I tried powder.  Basically, it’s the same recipe, but instead of adding liquid, you run the soap through a food processor or a blender to get it as finely powdered as you can, store it in an airtight container, and use 1Tbsp per load.  That one worked all right, but still not great.  The problem I ran into was similar:  the lighter, larger soap bits worked their way to the top of the container, while the heavier and finer washing soda and borax settled to the bottom.  It did dissolve better, though, and I didn’t have any problem with residue getting left behind on my clothes after a wash.  But I still wasn’t perfectly happy with it.  I had to keep shaking and stirring it every time I wanted to wash clothes.  Not a big deal, but just an annoyance.  I figured I’d try one or two more recipes, just to see if I could find one that was my perfect match, and if not, I’d come back to the powder, because having to shake it up is just a minor complaint, really. 

     Onward to laundry sauce, or as some people call it:  laundryonnaise.  I just call it a success.  You’ll recognize the recipe, because it’s almost the same ratios as the original liquid recipe I tried, but the concentration is different. 

1 bar Fels Naptha, or approx. 2c any soap, grated (Not Zote)

1c Borax

1c Washing Soda

4c Water

2 regular mouth quart jars

Optional:

* 1.5 to 3 Tbsp essential oil of your choice, or a blend of them.

     OR

1/3c laundry scent crystals (like Purex or Unstopables)

1.  Heat the water to almost boiling.

2.  While it’s heating, mix the washing soda and Borax together well and break up hard lumps the best you can.

3.  Add the grated soap to the hot water, stirring constantly.  Reduce the heat to medium and stir regularly until the soap is melted.  You really don’t want this mess to boil over.  It takes FOREVER to get all the soap off your stove.  It might be a good idea to do this when dad is home, so he can help entertain any littles you might have underfoot so you can pay full attention to this part.  Ask me how I know LOL

4.  Once the soap is melted completely, you can take it off the stove.  Mix in the Borax and washing soda, stirring constantly until completely dissolved.  This is also when you want to add your scent crystals, if you’re using them.

5.  Divide the mix evenly between your two quart jars. 
I imagine this could be done with a single half gallon jar, if you want to. 

6.  Add just enough water to bring the level up to the shoulders of the jars (where they turn in toward the mouth).  If you’re not using quart canning jars, I think this works out to be about two cups of liquid, total, but that’s just an estimate.  It doesn’t have to be exact, the consistency will just vary slightly. 

7.  Put the lids on and leave them to sit for four or five hours so they can separate.  Overnight works well, or if you start in the morning, forget about them till sometime in the afternoon.  Some recipes recommend turning the jars upside down so the liquid is trapped in the upper half the jar with the air pocket at the bottom.  This saves a step later, but spills all over you when you open it to blend.   (Remember how I said the separation was my biggest pet peeve with the others?) 

8.  This is when you add your essential oils, if you’re using them.  If you left your jars right-side up to separate, you’ll need to break up the solidified soap with a butter knife or something.  If you turned them upside down, carefully remove the lid, because your liquid is all up top. 

     If you’re using regular mouth quart jars, they will fit on most standard blenders.  Just screw the blender blade onto the mason jar and blend until it’s the consistency of mayonnaise and you’re done. 

     If you’re not using regular mouth mason jars, you’ll just have to dump yours in the blender, blend till it’s like mayonnaise, then put it back in your container.  

9.  Use one Tbsp for a large load of laundry.   

     A note on container sizes.  When you’re choosing your container, just remember you’re going to have to get a spoon in there.  And if your spoon isn’t long enough, you’re going to have to get your hand down in there, too.  Regular mouth canning jars are great for the mixing, but not for the getting back out.  My hands just don’t fit through there comfortably, and I have average sized hands.  Pa Bell rigged me up a scooper out of a tablespoon measure, a sanded down cut of wood, and some electrical tape.  I’ve seen some folks recommend those cookie dough scoopers with the silicone bottoms so you can just pop the dough out.  I want one of those. 

     A note on soaps:  Zote works, but not very well for us.  We have very soft water here, and Zote is a bit greasy.  It doesn’t dissolve or rise out well.  Fels Naptha works much better, as far as laundry soaps, but you can also use bath soap or homemade soap.  If you use homemade soap, I’d suggest steering clear of super-fatted soaps, especially if you have soft water. 

     ** A note of caution:  Do NOT put oxygen cleaners (oxyclean or similar) or baking soda to this recipe!  It will explode! **

     

     Price analysis:  Each batch will do about 128 loads of laundry.  My math skills aren't great, but I estimated about $4 per batch which breaks down to 3 cents a load.  I price checked Gain, which was my husband's brand of choice before we got married, and it would cost $9 and change per 64 load bottle, so close to $20, or 16 cents a load, to do the same number of loads, it didn't work as well at getting stains out, and smells like someone dumped a bottle of perfume in it.  

     And I know you want to know whether or not it works.  Yep, it works, and I think it works better than commercial stuff.  It got out dried in black mud from where Pa got the truck stuck down in the pasture and left his socks and shoes in the bed of the truck for a week before remembering they were out there.  It got off dried on blood with just a shadow left behind to tell it was ever there. 

     That would be another one for Pa, since he’ll cut himself doing something and sometimes won’t feel it.  With his spine messed up, he has nerve damage that has caused him to lose sensation in some of his fingers and toes.  And he’s not one to give me his laundry and say, “This stain is gonna need treating before you wash, okay?”  He just chucks it in the hamper in the bathroom, and I find it when I do laundry. 

     It will also successfully get out grass stains, cow poop, and smears of various fruit.  Little Bell still has some trouble maneuvering spoons, and he is rough-and-tumble when he’s outside “working.”  There’s really no telling what all this stuff has succeeded in getting out. 

     I've been using it for a few months now, and I have absolutely no complaints about it.  This one is our perfect match.  If you try it, let me know how you like it.  And if you find a way to make it better, I’d love to hear about it!  

* If you want to blend your own essential oils, 1 Tbsp is about 270 to 300 drops, depending on the size of your drops, obviously.  You can find all kinds of wonderful scent blends that tell you to blend a few drops of this, a few drops of that.  Just multiply it up till you get a large enough quantity.  3 Tbsp is a 2% dilution, which is considered a typical usage level.  4% is therapeutic level, and I would not recommend going up that high, unless you have a level of knowledge and understanding that makes you feel confident to do so.