New Recipes for Laundry Soap and Fabric Softener

I have an obsession with homemade laundry soap and here's a new version from my friend Tiffany...with a fabric softener to try...
Thanks, Tiffany!!
Here's what she had to say about it all: "So lately I've been making my own laundry soap and I've decided that I really, really like it. I wanted to share the recipe with ya'll in case anyone is interested. The last batch I made lasted a little over a month and cost me under $2.00. There are alot of different recipe versions out there and I'm guessing they all work about the same."
Here is her recipe:
Laundry Soap
Makes 2 Gallons
1/3 bar Fels Naptha, grated
1/2 cup Borax
1/2 cup Washing Soda (Arm and Hammer not baking soda)
Hot Water
1. Mix 6 cups of water in a large pot with grated soap. Heat and stir until melted. Turn off heat, add Borax and washing soda. Mix until dissolved. Pour all into big bucket or bowl. Add enough additional water to make 2 gallons (1 more gallon plus 10 more cups of water equals 2 gallons). You can also add essential oil to your detergent if you'd like more scent. Make sure it's pure though because heavy oils can stain clothes.
2. At this point you can put it in whatever container you'd like to store it. I used two empty, clean milk jugs for easy storage and pouring.
3. Before using each time shake the jug. Use 3/4 - 1 cup for every wash.
4. BTW - all of the above ingredients can be purchased at most grocery stores and Walmart on the laundry soap aisle.

Really Great Fabric Softener
3 C vinegar
2 C hair conditioner (any kind)
6 C water
Step 1
in a seal able container (if you have a couple old liquid fabric softener containers, those work well), combine 2 cups hair conditioner (I use a regular sized bottle- a little less than 2 cups), 3 cups vinegar, and 6 cups water.
Step 2
mix all ingredients together
Step 3
store in air tight container.
Step 4
use same amount you would use with regular liquid fabric softener

Stain Removal

Stain Removal

Usually, I just use some of my homemade laundry soap and scrub it in, and throw it in with the wash.
But for the stubborn stains, try this:

HOT WATER (enough to fill a big, clear plastic tub) , equal parts(about a cup of each) BIZ and the blue DAWN LIQUID DISH DETERGENT.

I throw all the stained clothes into the tub of hot water ( make sure the clothes are all the same color, don’t mix colors and whites) and let it sit for a couple days. if the stains are still there, I leave them in the water up to a week. then I dump the entire tub of clothes and soapy water into the washer. If there’s still stains, I repeat the process. (THIS FORMULA IS VERY SLIMY SO WEAR GLOVES)

For heirloom pieces, the only difference is rinse it well and then lay the item on a big towel, roll it up like a long snake, and then wring the excess water out. Hang it to dry.

It’s worth a try, the fabric/clothes are ruined anyway so why not try it out!

I’d love to get some comments on this subject, so let me know what you think! (success? bad experience? I want to know!)

Homemade Laundry Detergent

Use your kitchen for more than just food preparation!

Once you get the hang of this, it's sooo easy. One batch costs me about $1.50 and lasts a couple of months. And that's doing a load or two everyday. It works great with front loading washing machines as well. For me, this works as well as Tide...try it and let me know what you think.

Here’s what you need:
- 1 bar of soap (I use Fels-Naptha because I feel like it cleans the best)
- 1 box of washing soda (look for it in the laundry detergent - it comes in an Arm & Hammer box and will contain enough for six batches of this stuff)
- 1 box of Borax (contains enough for lots of batches)
- A five gallon bucket with a lid (or a bucket that will hold more than 15 liters - ask around - these aren’t too tough to acquire)
- Three gallons of tap water
- A big spoon to stir the mixture with
- A measuring cup
- A knife
Step One: Put about four cups of water into a pan on your stove and turn the heat up on high until it’s almost boiling. With a knife, start shaving strips off of the bar of soap into the water. Keep the heat below a boil and keep shaving the soap. Eventually, you’ll shave up the whole bar, then stir the hot water until the soap is dissolved and you have some highly soapy water.
Step Two: Put three gallons of hot water (11 liters or so) into the five gallon bucket. Mix in the hot soapy water from step one, stir it for a while, then add a cup of the washing soda. Keep stirring it for another minute or two, then add a half cup of borax. Stir for another couple of minutes, then let the stuff sit overnight to cool.
And you’re done. When you wake up in the morning, you’ll have a bucket of gelatinous slime that’s a paler shade of the soap that you used. One measuring cup full of this slime will be roughly what you need to do a load of laundry.