Homemade Laundry Soap Even HE safe

Hope everyone is enjoying their Holiday's and time with Loved ones, I know we have been!


Tonight I want to share with you homemade laundry soap and homemade fabric softener. I have been wanting to make this for months just never did it. But, while struggling with a gift idea for a family member and I came across this blogger who made homemade laundry soap and it was in this super cute container and thought oh that is it. So, the research began. I read blog after blog, review after review, ingredients reviews everything. I came to the conclusion I found the best recipe and was time to get busy.

This is what you need, Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda, Borax, and Fels-Naptha. I purchased all three items in the laundry isle in Walmart and spent less then $6.00. I know at this point I was excited, excited about the fact I was going to make 160 loads of laundry soap for $6.00. Oh little did I know, the price for this soap is much much cheaper then that! (Keep reading I will do a cost break down later).


I also went to my local hardware store and purchased a 5 gallon bucket with a lid (about $4.00).  Now I was ready to make soap.


You will only use 1/3 bar of the Fels-Naptha soap per batch (2 gallons) so begin with cutting it into three equal pieces. Go ahead and shred 1 piece of the bar just like shredding cheese.

 I kept a empty milk gallon for easy measuring and used my immersible blender for final mixing

Now to make soap:


I started with 1/2 gallon of water in a stainless steal bowl on the stove
Bring to a boil

Add your 1/3 bar of shredded Fels-Naptha and bring back to boil.
Once your Fels-Naptha has completely melted add
1/2 cup of Borax 
1/2 cup of Arm & Soda washing soda

You are going to let this boil (not to hard) for about 5 minutes, it will become thicker as you continue to stir it and all the soaps combine together.


Add 1.5 gallons of COLD water to your bucket and pour your soap into the cold water and start to stir. You will see it start to gel immediately.

This is where I used my blender if you don't have one you can do it by hand or I have read about people using their drill with a paint mixer on the end of it.


Let sit for about 30 minutes stir again really well.

Once you are done stirring it, go ahead and pour it into your container and it is ready for use.
1/2 cup per load

This is 2 gallons and laundry soap and almost a gallon of fabric softener.




Fabric Softener


What you need

2 cups of Suave Conditioner (I used lilac scent)
3 cups of White Vinegar
10 Cups of Water


 Mix these three ingredients in your bucket (do not shake or you will get alot of foam like I did)
Use with a downy ball or 2 tablespoons in the dispenser in your washer.


Ok now let me give you a few pieces of advice, make sure you let your soap boil long enough. My first batch I did not boil, just hot enough to melt the soap and it separated BIG TIME.

(See the separation) UGH See the cute containers? Yeah not a good idea. The soap will separate SOME no matter what, so you will have to shake it slightly before use. Now that is a 2 gallon container and weighed at least 10 lbs full of soap, not ideal for a quick shake.


2nd one is the fabric softener (mentioned above) stir it do not shake or you will get alot of foam on top that did not go away after a week.


3rd you have to make this soap liquid, the stain fighter and spot remover is the Fels-Naptha and it will not dissolve in cold water. So unless you do all your laundry in hot water you have to premelt the soap.


4th this soap is totally safe to people with allergens to fragrance and other soaps (like I am).
Along with being compatible with HE machines.


Ok onto the cost
After I broke down how much soap you use per batch (2 gallons) it looked like this
Fels-Naptha = $0.46 a batch
Washing Soda $.029 a batch
Borax $0.17 a batch
So for 64 loads of laundry soap it costs $0.92 that is $.014 a load!
Fabric Softener per batch
Conditioner  $0.82 a batch
Vinegar $.34 a batch
So for 202 loads of fabric softener (a batch) it cost $1.26 that is $.006 per load!
A grand total of 2 cents per load of laundry! Oh and under a hour to make both, I can handle that! :)


Now let me give you alittle testimony on it:
(Weak stomachs turn away)
Our little 3lb dog has been sick lately and has seemed to throw up or have diarrhea on pretty much every rug in my house. So our first load of laundry consists of a rug with throw up on it, 2 bath room rugs with diarrhea on them, a dog blanket, and some hand towels used when making chocolates, with chocolate and oils stains on them. I washed this load in hot water and 1.2 cup of soap along with a downy ball with fabric softener. EVERYTHING came out beautiful and soft. We even seem to think the towels came out cleaner then before
Ok not totally fair since I had to wash in hot water, so the next load was uniforms (my son goes to private school so he wears uniforms everyday) so school bells pants (like a dockers type pant) and polo shirts, along with a pair of black dress pants and a button up dress shirt. Washed in cold, 1.2 cup of soap and downy ball again everything came out perfect and felt so good. My son was concerned because the softener was lilac scented but you could not smell it after it came out of the drier also there was zero static cling.
Since this I have washed regular clothes, sheets blankets, towels, no need to any bleach type products and I have have no zero allergic reaction to the soap or softner.


Well there it is one of my many homemade Christmas gifts along with my new favorite homemade product! Let me know if you try it or already use homemade laundry soap.


Jeanne