Homemade Laundry Soap!!

Sick of buying laundry soap?? Me too. This stuff is awesome because it is way stronger then the store bought laundry soap. You only have to use 1 Tablespoon per load. This recipe makes a huge cookie jar full of soap and is going to last a life time, well maybe not quit that long. I originally made mine in July and I still have a ton and I do at least 8 loads of laundry ever week. So I am thinking it will last me almost a year. 1 year of laundry soap for less than $20, have I got you sold yet? I love not having to buy laundry soap all the time anymore. This laundry soap also works just fine in  HE washers. Update: **I just ran out of laundry soap and it is March. So July to March that's 9 months of laundry soap for $20 bucks. I am pretty happy about that.**

Here is what you need:

1 4 lb 12 oz box Borax (2.15 kg or 76 oz) found in the detergent isle

1 4 lb box Arm & Hammer Baking Soda (1.81 kg) found in the cooking isle

1  box Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda 55 oz (3 lb 7 oz) found in the detergent isle

3 bars of Fels-Naptha soap, found in the detergent isle (if you use Zote bars use 2 bars instead, Zote can be found at Home Depot)

2 small containers of Oxy Clean or store brand Oxy Clean (try to get about 3.5 lbs total (1.58 kg)) found in the detergent isle.

(this is optional, I added it into mine because I have pretty messy kids and the cleaner the better)

You should be able to find all of these items at your grocery store.

**Use 1-2 Tablespoons per load. I know that does not seem like enough but this recipe does not have fillers like the store bought detergent so you only need 1-2 Tablespoons.**

This detergent is fairly mild smelling, it is not over powering. If you love a strong scent you may have to add a fabric softener or laundry crystals to each load. You can find laundry crystals in the detergent isle.

Start out by grating your Fels-Naptha soap just like cheese. You can use a food processor or just use your hand held grater, what ever you have. Those of you with an HE washer may want to run the mix through the grater again to get an even finer mix.
**Don't worry the Fels-Naptha will dissolve in your washer even if you only use cold water like me.**

Toss all ingredients in a 5 gallon bucket lined with a garbage bag. This part makes your whole house smell great. Once everything is mixed store soap however you like. The recipe makes
about 2 gallons worth of detergent. Walmart has large glass jars in the kitchen department.

I used a jar that my sister gave me a few years ago from a little home good store. Then used my Cricut to cut out the word Laundry to put on the front of the jar. I keep it above my washing machine, I also got a little scoop that is about 1 tablespoon to keep inside. Wasn't that easy? Sure was! Enjoy your soap.

 **If you are going to copy my recipe and blog about it please add a link back to my blog. Give credit where credit is due. It would be very appreciated. Thanks:)**

**Update** I have had a lot of repeat questions so I though I would answer a few here.

-This detergent is safe for HE washers. Just make sure to great your bar soap very fine.
  The detergent should be added to the barrel instead of the dispenser.
-This detergent is safe to use on sensitive skin.
-It does not have a strong scent, you can add laundry crystals to the batch to add fragrance.
-Some of my followers have used other bar soap instead of Zote or Fels-Naptha. I have personally not tried it but from the feed back I get it sounds like any bar will work.
-Use 1-2 Tablespoons per load.
-Walmart has nice big glass jars in the kitchen department!
-This is not safe for cloth diapers because it contains baking soda which affects how the diaper is able to soak up liquid. Or so I have been told. You may want to do your own research on this.
-I am not sure if this detergent is safe for a septic tank or not. I have had plenty of comments from people who have septic tanks and they say that this detergent works just fine.
- I used my Cricut to cut out the vinyl letters for the jar. I used the Story Book font.

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Disclaimer:  Please use at your own risk.

Fun Kids Soap

I had a great time making these and I think they turned out pretty cute!! Each soap has a fun little surprise in the center, my kids go nuts over these and they will be getting them as stocking suffers this Christmas.

I got this great idea from: http://capcreations.blogspot.com/2010/10/diy-halloweenfall-soap-favors-and.html .

I picked up my supplies at Hobby Lobby. I used a 40% off coupon for the soap, I choose the 5 lb bag and was able to make 30 soaps with it. I also picked up coloring and a scent (peppermint for Christmas). If you are going to use glitter choose the fines glitter you can because larger fleck glitter will all sink to the bottom of your mold (which will end up being the top of the soap when you are done). I got the bracelets and rings at good old Walmart in the party section. I also got small frogs, fish, and bouncy balls. You will also need a small spray bottle of rubbing alcohol.

I also picked up a mold at Hobby Lobby. I used this mold to make my colored soaps that will become the cubes to sprinkle in toy soaps.

As soon as you can pop them out chop them into little cubes.

I kind of got carried away and had to make every color I could!

To make the hearts I cut long strips of my pink soap and molded them into hearts. Place whatever "surprise" you want into each cup of a muffin pan.

Using a microwave safe measuring cup microwave glycerin soap as package directs. I only microwave two small blocks at a time and for 30 second increments. When I tried to do more than that I had to microwave it for longer (I am only talking 1 1/2 minutes) to get all the soap to melt and then the soap ended up to hot and it acted weird when I pored it into my molds. It melted all my colored blocks and sent them to the bottom of the mold and made a mess out of them. Also the soap dried very hazy. So only microwave 45 seconds tops. Before you pour the soap into your molds add glitter and fragrance. Stir to combine and then pour into molds making sure to fill each mold, don't do half full and then add more later. That does not really work very well either. Learn from my mistakes!! After you pour the soap into the mold immediately spray the soap with rubbing alcohol to pop all the bubbles, don't pass up this step it really works.

Don't move them while they are setting up. Allow them to set up completely (this only takes like 20 minutes or less) then pop them into the freezer for a few minutes (trust me this works). After a few minutes they pop right out. If you are having a hard time put them back into the freezer for a few more minutes and try again. I gently tapped on the back of each muffin cup to loosen the soap. BTW this did not ruin my muffin pan, its just soap it washes right out.

Cover each soap with plastic wrap and voila. Hand made soap. Stinking cute too. I might make stickers to go onto each soap or maybe put them into a cute cellophane bag to finish them up, they also fit nicely into a canning jar. Have fun, I sure did!

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