Product Recipe #1 - Homemade Laundry Soap and Fabric Softener

Very cheap and efficient Laundry soap with no animal products. Costs me around $4 for a huge gallon, and you only use 1/4 to 1/3 cup depending on dirtiness of clothes or size of load. This soap will not make a lot of bubbles. Don't worry, bubbles do not clean anything, so you do not need them! And if you keep these items on hand, you will never run out of laundry soap. This takes about 10 minutes total to make.

You will need - around 1.5 grams or 5 oz of bar soap. This will be 2 small or 1 large bar. I use Chandrika Ayurvedic Soap because it smells great, cleans fantastically and has no animal products. You do not need essential oil with strongly scented soaps. Fels Naptha is nowhere near as natural, but it works very well.
1 cup natural dish soap - I use Dr. Bronner's Sal Suds. I would think you could use any dish soap as you are not using much of it, but I have not used conventional dish soap.
2 cups baking soda
2 cups Borax laundry booster
12 cups water
(100 drops essential oil - totally optional)
Grater of some sort, slotted stirring implement, large pot, funnel

1. Grate the soap. This takes less time than you think and is a good project for older kids with supervision. Grate it as small as possible. If you grate it in the pot you use for cooking it, you will save a step.

2. Add all water and start on medium heat. This can be done on a stove, or outside on a grill or fire. Just make sure to not let this boil over as it will make a big mess, but your stove will be very clean!

3. When soap is dissolved, add all other ingredients. I add dish soap first, then baking soda and borax a little at a time while stirring. Add oil now if using.

4. Stir out the lumps. I keep smashing little lumps until the soap is smooth. Turn off the heat when the lumps are gone. THIS SHOULD NOT BOIL! IT SHOULD JUST GET VERY WARM!

5. Bottle your soap. I use a one-gallon bottle from vinegar with a good lid. It is more sturdy than a milk or water bottle. Using a coffee cup and the funnel, I put the soap into a bottle and let it cool outside with the lid off for a few hours. A bucket with a lid would work as well, and then you do not need to use a funnel; just pour it in carefully.

6. Use and enjoy! I hold onto the lid and turn the whole bottle upside down once before using to make sure it is well-mixed. You could stir it up with your measuring cup for a bucket. Use 1/4 cup for small or lightly soiled loads, or 1/3 cup if you need it. If your soap seems too thick, just add some more water and adjust your need accordingly.


Fabric softener. First of all - if you are going to go natural and/or homemade, you need to get the idea that clothes washed in an apartment in December are ever going to smell "April Fresh" out of your head. I had a hard time with this one. I was a fabric softener junkie! But I have gotten used to clean clothes with a bit of scent and that is good enough. Also, the vinegar removes the last bit of soap your washer might not. Your clothes are cleaner by using vinegar.

You will need - White vinegar and essential oil. That is pretty much it.

I use 1/2 cup vinegar and 5 - 10 drops of essential oil per load, depending on load size. You do not need to mix this up, just add it separately or the oil will settle unevenly in the vinegar while sitting on your shelf. I have a softener dispenser, but you can also add it right to rinse water. I would not add it without rinse water in the washer as the vinegar and/or oil might stain something. Good oils to use - lavender, orange, jasmine, patchouli - the list is endless. If you added oil to your soap, you might pick the same one for continuity of scent.