Kissin' Our Laundry

In January I received this recipe from a friend. At the time I didn't know where it can from buton Pintrest I found some familiar pictures. I was interested in making my own laundry soap. Its funny because before I only bought $20 Tide once a month. My friend from down stairs told me she only spends $20 a month on all her families bathroom and washing needs. That is insane to me because I'm for sure way over $100. She uses Money Saving Mom for a lot and maybe one day I will learn.

We've always used Liquid laundry soap. It was going to be a harder transition I thought to use the SUPER SUPER simple dry laundry mix. I was afraid of clumpy yuck in my washer corners or in my clothes. Although it would be way less space to store a dry detergent.

I used what I had the first time I made this in January, 10 gallons and 6 months later, I've got clean clothes and one less shopping expense. I made a slight change to this batch, only because I LOVE even #'s. I think that even amounts Borax and Washing Soda will still work just fine. I'll update later if needed!

Our Liquid Lavender Laundry Soap

Ingredients

Step 1: Gather Your Materials

5 Gallon Bucket

Funnel 

Cheese Grater

10 Gallon Jugs

 1 Laundry Bar Soap

1/2 Cup Borax

1 Cup Arm & Hammer Super WASHING Soda

15-20 drops Lavender Essential Oil

**UPDATE: I USED 1 FALS NAPTHA, AND 1/2 IVORY, AND 27 OIL DROPS.. I REALLY LIKE THIS RATIO.. I'LL LET YOU KNOW HOW I FEEL ONCE I'VE BEEN USING IT FOR A WHILE**

I wrote the Instructions on my designated 5 Gallon Bucket!

Step 2:  Melt Your Soap 

Grate your Soap!

 I use Ivory you can use Fals Naptha, which is so easy to find in your Laundry aisle.
Or any other Laundry Bar Soap you find! I had a bunch of Ivory bars, because the Ivory bars are smaller (or so they look) i use 1 1/2 bars. I like the way Ivory smells so that worked best for me.

   Add Soap and 4 cups Water to a sauce pan on  Low-Med heat. 

Constantly stir until you've melted all the soap! This is so important. I got impatient this time and hand to pick out some of the chunks I wouldn't let melt. No clumps allowed in Liquid Soap!! You can probably spot some of them in the pic below. Oops!

Step 3: Mix Ingredients Together! NO CLUMPS ALLOWED!

Add Hot Soap Mixture to 1/2 Full Bucket of HOT Water + 1/2 cup Borax, 1 cup Washing Soda

 Break up any dry chunks and make sure it all dissolves. The warm water makes all the difference!

After I make sure all the clumps are gone and the soap is mixed up great I add my Lavender Oil. Both Lavender and Tea Tree Oil have great anti bacterial agents. Adam always likes the Lavender scented laundry stuff so again, this works best for us! There are SO many amazing healing agents and great stuff in Lavender, I can't wait to learn more about it!

Step 4: Fill it Up and WAIT!

Fill up our bucket to the top with water and put a lid on it. Then let sit over night or for at least 8 hours if you make it in the morning! The soaps got to do it's thing!

Step 5: Squish!!!!

Oh, It's so much fun squishing!

Your soap is going to be all globby. You can mix it up with a spoon, or that cool mixer thing on the recipe link.. but I'm so hands-on, it was important to me to get my hands into it. Remember, these are pretty strong soaps.. so wash your hands, and arms quickly after. When you are mixing make sure you squish all those, ALL those globs up and make it smooth and bubbly again! This is your soapy concentrate!

Step 6: Fill Bottles Half and Half

With your funnel fill half soap and half water! Makes 10 gallons.

I use the Ozarka bottles for my soap. I also use them for my water storage. They are thick like a juice bottle, until milk jugs. They also stack!!! A great quality for small living spaces. They happen to be just little less at 1 gallon. So, when I measured 8 cups soap, I couldn't get 8 cups water. You can measure it straight out, or by looking!  The best thing about filling our bottles.. we get clean floors at the same time!

Silvery Swirl 

When I went a hair salon a few years back, they were showing my their shampoo for me to buy. One of her points were the shampoo had a silvery swirl in it.. and that is what we should look for in our soaps. I'm not sure why.. but I was happy to see this beautiful silvery swirl in my soap. It might come from the Ivory but I've never used the Fals Naptha or others bars in my detergent. Just remember bubbles separate and trap the dirt, and the silver swirl is something good!! :) Wow, that sounded professional.

Ten Gallons

Ten gallons fit compact into my laundry room very nicely.  Tighten your lids, dry your containers,a and store somewhere safe. Also- SHAKE BEFORE USE! Your  soap will simmer and you will clearly see the separation again like with the globs.. no worries.. with the smaller individual bottles it is easy to SHAKE IT OUT!!

I hope you love it too!! Also, you can try some of these tips!

Pre- Stain Remover

This is where I use it. I use my Fals- Naptha bar as a stain remover. I pre-treat my stains by running the bar under water and rubbing it on the stain! I've got little boys so we get tons of stains. If I can remember to treat them, I'd have to say this works just as good as any.

Fals Naptha or another Laundry Bar Soap

My Pre- Stain Remover

Fabric Softener

In the final rinse cycle, I sometimes toss a 1/2 cup of Vinegar into my wash. This helps it feel soft and helps with any mildew smells... especially with my towels! Try it one day!

Fabric Softener

Dryer Sheets

I use Layers by Scentsy Dryer Disks. They come 2 in a pack and each bar lasts 15 or more dries. They have static electricity properties, and right now they come in two scents: Coconut Lemon Grass and Quiver. Both fantastic! Get them here!! gloeng.scentsy.us