Homemade Laundry Soap: result & cost!

[Two_Sheds]

engineer ... said only use powders, as they have added water softeners which prevent limescale

well soda crystals are a softener, so that should be OK.

btw, the machine is stinking again (I just did the 90c "deep clean"). There's a scum of black greasy mould inside the rubber which just doesn't ever get washed away, even on a boil wash

[Dusty Rhodes]

well soda crystals are a softener, so that should be OK.

btw, the machine is stinking again (I just did the 90c "deep clean"). There's a scum of black greasy mould inside the rubber which just doesn't ever get washed away, even on a boil wash

What about using laundry bleach to kill the mould and sanitize your towels in one swoop?

[Ananke]

Well, that's my 5 gallons made up. I hope it's good because it cost less than £2 and was really easy and quick to make.

[vikkib]

Hmmmm... I may have to give this a go!

I currently use with T**co or A**a value/smartprice washing powder which is currently about £3 per 3kg. When I first moved in with OH tried using various brands when they were on special offer (believing they would do a better job) but he seems to be allergic to every one I tried!

The box claims it's 60 washes but I've never monitored how many I get per box and I don't tend to follow the instructions and use smaller quantities of powder anyway.

G4 can I be cheeky and ask how many washes you do a week?! I'm thinking I do 3-4 per week so I'd like to try and work out if it comes out cheaper than my SM value buys!

[Ananke]

I tested my detergent this morning and I am absolutely over the moon with it. I have a pair of pink slipper socks that had ground in dirt on them and they have come out totally clean.

[Glutton4...]

I was only thinking about this thread the other day, as I can't find my recipe, so was going to search on here.

Sadly, I haven't made any since we moved house, and I have really noticed the smell of detergent on my clothing. If I do buy any commercial product, I use P€r$!l non bio, as I have Eczema, and Mr.G has Psoriasis, and these are both worse with commercial products, especially the cheaper ones. Plus, in my opinion, they stink! Incidentally, I don't ever use fabric softener, as that makes both our skin complaints ten times worse. I use the liquid tab things, but I do hot washes around once a week, for his work clothes, my smelly horsey gear and the towels that I use to rub down the dog, so it hasn't been an issue so far.

To answer Vikkib's question, it varies, but I'd guess at four to six washes a week most weeks. I tend to wait until the weather is favourable, then have a blitz.

I have discovered, sadly, that whites need a good wash with 'commercial' every few months, as they do lose their 'gleam' without the whiteners and other $h!te they use, and I really don't like grey whites. I used to use wash-balls, too, and they were fab, but they started coming apart and emptying their little balls into the washing machine, blocking it up and getting stuck behind the drum, so I threw them away before they chuffed it up and cost me a repair bill. Incidentally, I used to use balls in the tumble dryer, too, but the noise drove me potty, so they also had to go!

You'll probably still find the ingredients are as cheap on 'the Bay' as anywhere. Happy laundry!

[zazen999]

I bought Borax substitute and Soda Crystals yesterday and I have bicarb in the cupboard so i'm going to have a go at this.

Does anyone have the original recipe?

There's some on here:

Save Money – Make & Use Laundry Gloop « Ventnor Permaculture

[veggiechicken]

I'm going to try it with bought soap flakes to make a powder, rather than a liquid - being a lazy soul!! Looking for soap flakes I came on this Laundry Cleaning Tips - How to make your own washing powder
Wilkies sell the soap flakes (£1.30 for 425g) and the other ingredients. Guess where I'm going next week?

[veggiechicken]

Slight addition to the above - found a recommendation to microwave soap instead of grating it (which is the bit I can't be bothered with)
" he never grates bars of soap. He simply melts them in the microwave! He said it works for Fels Naptha bar soap which I use in my laundry soap….so I wondered if it would work for this. Guess what? It did! Approximately 90 seconds in the microwave in a microwave-safe container and it melts and then begins to bubble up! (Keep an eye on it so it doesn’t overflow!)
After that I poured it into the 6 cups of water that I already had heated on the stove. (If you put the melted soap into COLD water…it will just harden up again immediately.)"

[Glutton4...]

Grate! idea VC! (sorry, couldn't resist that one ) I don't grate mine either. I find it ($unl!ght) to be quite crumbly, so I just chop it with a big sharp knife, and dissolve it in very hot water.

For those who can't be bothered to find their way back to post 4 here is a repeat of the recipe. With thanks to Zaz for the name.


Laundry Gloop!

1 x 130g bar Sunlight Soap = £2.16
236g Washing Soda Crystals = 82.3p
236g Bicarbonate of Soda = 47.9p

It's really simple. The 'recipe' I had was for 5.5 oz bar soap and 1 Cup each of Soda and Bicarb. I could only buy 4.5 oz bars, so adjusted accordingly. 1 Cup is 283g/10oz in weight or half a pint of liquid.

Chop up the soap (Lemon one smells so good you could almost eat it!) and dissolve it in hot water. It takes ages to dissolve, so I used my hand blender, as it went quite stringy. Then dissolve the dry ingredients into some water, mix the two, and top-up with water to 7.5 Litres. If you are using the bigger quantities, it's 10 Litres per batch.

I use a B&Q orange bucket, and have measured out and marked my 7.5 L batch level on the side with indelible marker. I store it in plastic 4 pint Milk containers (In the cupboard under the sink - not in the fridge, as it would be a nasty shock!) Each 4 pint container gives me sixteen wash loads.

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My advice regarding storage, is that the plastic milk containers only have a limited shelf life. Luckily I store mine in my orange bucket, as they have been known to split at the centre seam, and ooze out all over the shelf.

[Two_Sheds]

he seems to be allergic to every one I tried!

is that just the ones with enzyme (check the label) or non-bio too?

I used to use balls in the tumble dryer, too

ah, one of my favourite jokes in the supermarket: "dear, do you want drier balls this week?"

I store it in plastic 4 pint Milk containers

... or use an old commercial washing liquid bottle (if you can find one that doesn't have comfrey tea in it)

[Glutton4...]

... or use an old commercial washing liquid bottle (if you can find one that doesn't have comfrey tea in it)

Now that did make me chuckle!

[Ananke]

There's some on here:

Save Money – Make & Use Laundry Gloop « Ventnor Permaculture

Thanks for that

[julesapple]

I desperately want to try this Gloop, and it's shopping day tomorrow so I can buy the ingredients then. But I don't need the BH on my case a few weeks down the line cos I've knackered our washer. And I can't afford a new one.....

So tell me, is this going to screw up my washing machine? Do you guys just do a hot wash every week (not a hardship with teenage P.E. kit....eeewwww) or what do you do in the way of washing machine maintenance?

[muddyfeet]

Grate! idea VC! (sorry, couldn't resist that one ) I don't grate mine either. I find it ($unl!ght) to be quite crumbly, so I just chop it with a big sharp knife, and dissolve it in very hot water.

I have a bag full of soap ends which I can't bear to throw out. Do you think I could use those instead of sunlight soap? They are mostly one kind of soap with other odd ones thrown in.