This is one of the easiest things to make - easier than no-bake cookies. It saves money. It reduces packaging. It’s not made from petroleum by-products. I’m no multitasker, and I made some last night, on my hour-long dinner break, between heating up leftovers and doing the dishes and taking out the recycling. It’s that quick and easy.
This is my method. All measurements are so approximate that if your dog or four-year-old child decides to “help” when you aren’t looking, the soap will probably still turn out.
Ingredients:
- 1/3 to 1/2 bar of soap (say 40g or so)
- 1/2 cup borax
- 1/2 cup washing soda
Look for borax and washing soda in the laundry aisle of large stores. Sobeys is the only place I’ve found that carries washing soda locally. Use any soap you like. My latest batch used mango soap from Ten Thousand Villages. Decadent, yes, but I got a lot of soap last Christmas, and thought I might as well enjoy it.
Instructions
Put a pot of water on to simmer (amount: 1.5-2L). Grate the soap into it, and stir occasionally over low heat until the soap has melted. Remove from heat. Stir in the soda and borax. Dump into the container that will hold your soap, making sure it’s cool enough to touch. (This is because I am concerned about plastics leaching when filled with hot things.)
That’s all. The soap will turn into a gel as it cools. The less time it is heated, and the more water you add, the softer the gel. A softer gel dissolves more easily in washing machines. I think this dissolution is the principal advantage of a gel soap over simply adding soap flakes, borax, and washing soda to the laundry.
1/2 cup is plenty for a normal sized load in a top-loading washer. I add extra borax if it’s a load of whites, because this soap won’t scrub whites as well as commercial detergents. It does fine on coloured loads, though, and you can always keep a box of regular detergent for whites that need freshening.
A batch this size does me about 10 loads, or two to three months. Scale it up freely if you do a lot of laundry. Two 90g bars of Ivory, and a large (10 oz) mugful each of borax and washing soda, dissolved in 7-8L of water, is a good large-scale batch.
April 15, 2008 at 4:50 pm
Sounds interesting - but what the heck is washing soda?
April 15, 2008 at 5:55 pm
Washing soda is sodium carbonate. It’s great for general cleaning or as a laundry additive - my favourite for scrubbing bathtubs and showers. Costs about the same as borax, which is about $7 a box here and lasts a long time.
April 18, 2008 at 10:40 am
Hum, could it really be that easy? I might try it.
April 20, 2008 at 3:26 pm
Go for it, Felicia! You can experiment with ingredient proportions to find what suits you best.
June 10, 2008 at 12:06 pm
[...] Some of the best ideas for new and unusual uses for Ten Thousand Villages products come directly from our customers. A Ten Thousand Villages customer in Nova Scotia has been using soaps from Palam Rural Center artisans to make her own, non-toxic, environmentally friendly laundry soap. The recipe is “easier than no-bake cookies,” but the best part about doing this is you can choose whatever scent suits your mood. All you need is: 1/3 to 1/2 bar of vegetable oil soap (approx. 40g) 1/2 cup borax 1/2 cup washing soda For a complete step-by-step guide to creating homemade laundry soap, click here! [...]
July 6, 2008 at 10:48 pm
is their a way that you can incorporate hydrogen peroxide liquid into your recipe in the RIGHT AMOUNT without harming the colored ones? i mean, the effect will be brighter coloreds and whiter whites? i have researched that hydrogen peroxide is eco friendly too bec it leaves borax and washing soda once the oxygen evaporates. so it would be a great help if you could tell me the right proportion of hydrogen peroxide or oxygen bleach in your recipe achieving the result of brighter coloreds and whiter whites…thanks lots in advance….
July 7, 2008 at 12:05 am
i have tried your recipe, and it could not really take off the grease off the clothes. so i tried to try it with a few greasy dish plates to test if the grease would not be removed. it also was not able to remove the grease off the plates the same way as it did not remove the grease off the clothes. do you also have this similar experience with your recipe?
July 8, 2008 at 3:50 pm
Hi Julia,
Thanks for your feedback! Unfortunately, I don’t know enough about hydrogen peroxide to know how to incorporate it into this recipe. I’d like to experiment and find out sometime, though. If you learn more, I’d appreciate you letting me know what you find.
As for the grease, I find that the soap actually works quite well if you scrub the greasy spots with a brush or cloth. This soap seems to need a little more mechanical action than some commercial detergents. Also, if you have hard water, it will rinse out better if you add some vinegar to the rinse.
I hope that helps. Thanks for trying my recipe.