Home made laundry soap

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Homemade Laundry Soap

Bar of Ivory Soap (plain, pure soap, to fragrance, etc.) 1 Cup Arm and Hammer Washing Soda (not baking soda)

Grate the bar of soap into a saucepan. Use the part on the cheese grater that is for hard cheeses and chocolate. Add sufficient water to cover the soap about 2 inches. Let it soak up the water overnight. (This step is not essential, but will make it much easier to melt the soap.

Fill a large bucket or container with hot tap water. (I use a 3 gallon bucket leftover from dishwashing detergent). Set aside. Grate bar of soap into a sauce pan. Add water just to cover. Heat, stirring constantly, until soap is dissolved. Add soap/water mixture to the hot water in the bucket. Stir to combine. Then (do not reverse this order) add 1 cup of Washing Soda and stir. As this cools it will turn into a bucket full of white gelatinous soap (thickness depends on size of bucket used).

To use, I put two cups into a full load of laundry. Sometimes (when I think of it) I add a handful of baking soda to the load and I use vinegar in a Downy Ball as softener.

This bucket of soap does a lot of laundry and more soap is just 15 minutes away. I buy the Ivory in bulk and the Washing Soda is found near the Borax type products in the grocery store. Washing Soda is made by Arm and Hammer and the box looks like a big box of baking soda (but is NOT the same thing!). In a pinch I go ahead and use this before it's cooled as a liquid..... works fine. The laundry soap doesn't suds up but it works great My batch washed 24 loads of laundry and the cost is set by the cost of your soap usually)

Homemade Laundry Soap

Bar of Ivory Soap (plain, pure soap, to fragrance, etc.) 1 Cup Arm and Hammer Washing Soda (not baking soda)

Grate the bar of soap into a saucepan. Use the part on the cheese grater that is for hard cheeses and chocolate. Add sufficient water to cover the soap about 2 inches. Let it soak up the water overnight. (This step is not essential, but will make it much easier to melt the soap.

Fill a large bucket or container with hot tap water. (I use a 3 gallon bucket leftover from dishwashing detergent). Set aside. Grate bar of soap into a sauce pan. Add water just to cover. Heat, stirring constantly, until soap is dissolved. Add soap/water mixture to the hot water in the bucket. Stir to combine. Then (do not reverse this order) add 1 cup of Washing Soda and stir. As this cools it will turn into a bucket full of white gelatinous soap (thickness depends on size of bucket used).

To use, I put two cups into a full load of laundry. Sometimes (when I think of it) I add a handful of baking soda to the load and I use vinegar in a Downy Ball as softener.

This bucket of soap does a lot of laundry and more soap is just 15 minutes away. I buy the Ivory in bulk and the Washing Soda is found near the Borax type products in the grocery store. Washing Soda is made by Arm and Hammer and the box looks like a big box of baking soda (but is NOT the same thing!). In a pinch I go ahead and use this before it's cooled as a liquid..... works fine. The laundry soap doesn't suds up but it works great My batch washed 24 loads of laundry and the cost is set by the cost of your soap usually)

-- Anonymous, September 20, 2001


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