"For I know that I am fearfully and wonderfully made in You...You make it Beautiful Somehow"

Wednesday, June 27, 2012

Laundry Soap Revisited: An Awesome Shortcut!

The first trimester of pregnancy is hard. This particular pregnancy has been kicking my butt. I'm not sure that it has just been a more difficult first trimester, or that having two little ones to chase around and care for has made it more exhausting. Thankfully I am not one of those who is violently ill, however, instead I feel miserably sick all day long. From the time I get up, to the time I go to bed. That alone is exhausting. I have not even been able to blog lately. Just looking at a computer screen makes me nauseous. Weird huh?!

But, I know all of this is so completely worth it! I feel blessed to be able to carry this little one. So, I count it all as blessings and take the sickness as a good sign that baby is healthy and growing.

In order to *attempt* to keep my house in order, clothes clean, and food on the table, I have been looking for short cuts to anything and everything! Here are my two absolute favorite shortcuts that I have found thus far for making some of my routine cleaning products! I will share one today and save the other for another post later.

Laundry Soap: No cooking required!


I shared in a earlier post about my homemade laundry soap (here). It really is fantastic! I was so in love with it that I had no interest with making anything else. Enter the first trimester, and the fact that heat/ cooking over the stove makes nausea so much worse. I found that I simply could not make my laundry soap. What little energy I could muster was going into playing with my boys, keeping the house tidy, ect. So I began looking for options. I went back to the original blog where I first found the recipe I use and saw that she had made a powder version of her laundry soap. I was skeptical at first. Would it really work as well? But I was down to my last load of laundry soap and needed more. So I went for it, and I couldn't be happier!!!!!

Here is what you need...


2 cups Borax
2 cups Super washing soda 
2 bars Fels Naptha
2 Quart sized canning jars


Shred your two bars of Fels Naptha. Place the shredded soap into your blender or food processor until it becomes a fine powder. It should be the same consistency as the Borax and washing soda. If you skip this step it will be too think and have a hard time fully dissolving in your washer. Next I added the Borax and Super Washing Soda to the Soap in the blender so it would mix it completely together.


This is what you want it to look like...



 Pour mixture into your quart sized jars and you are done! That simple.


To use: 


You only need 2 TEASPOONS, yes you read that right, for a LARGE load! I was so skeptical that this would actually work. But it does! It really does. Both my mother and my aunt have tried this powder recipe and are very happy with the results. 


Notes: This will make (2) 3/4 full jars...it does not fill all the way to the top. I have not done the math yet as to how long this lasts, but it is lasting me a long time so far! I have not had any problems with any residue and the detergent dissolves great. 

Have you tried a powder version of homemade laundry soap?


 



11 comments:

  1. I hope that you are feeling better soon. Each pregnancy is different. I found the better my nutrition the better I could handle it. Whole food vitamins made a big difference for me. I think I used Rainbow Light and Garden of Life. (Whatever was on sale!)

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  2. Is it 2 or 3 bars of Fels Naptha? The ingredient list says 2 while the directions say 3. Thanks.

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    1. oops thanks for noticing that for me...I blame it on the pregnancy brain! It is two bars.

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  3. I have made the powdered laundry soap before but I guess I like liqued better so I usually make that. I think it would be a good idea for me to make a batch of the dry however to have handy if I ever need to transport it somewhere.

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    1. I have a liquid version on hand as well, I love to use it on stains. Works great! But I also like the dry version for the summer time since I don't have to heat up my kitchen making it. :-) Thanks for stopping by Abbi!

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  4. This is how I make my laundry soap, we have been using it for about 7 years I guess, and it works well enough. At least no one has complained about us smelling to our faces ;-) I have never tried making the liquid kind, although have seen it done a lot, I am too lazy :-)

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    1. I ran out of some just the other day and needed to do a load of laundry so I used some left over Tide I had. This made me realize how much better my laundry soap is!!! Tons better than tide in my opinion! Thanks for stopping by!

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  5. I recently changed to the powdered version as well and love it! I actually think it works better.

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  6. Just wondering if you have ever tried switching out the Fels Naptha for a natural soap such as Dr. Bronner's bars? I haven't made any recently, but my original receipe called for Fels Naptha OR another bar soap. Fels Naptha has petroleum in it, so I like to avoid it and decided to use the Dr. Bronner's in my liquid soap. It has worked really well for me.

    Blessings to you in your pregnancy!

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    1. oh thank you for the idea! I have been meaning to buy some Dr. Bronner's, just haven't gotten to it yet.

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  7. I make homemade laundry soap just like that, I grate one or two bars of whatever very plain bar soap I have, usually a castile soap or naptha, sometimes just a bar of Ivory, then I run it through the blade of my food processor to break it down further... then I add an equal amount of borax and washing soda (not baking soda), I just eyeball it, for example if I had 1 cup of grated bar soap, then I add 1 cup of borax and 1 cup washing soda, mix well and place in whatever reusable containers I have, sometimes it's sour cream containers, sometimes other containers. I use a couple of tablespoons of powder per wash and it works sooooo great!

    One thing I use along with this is liquid bluing in the rinse cycle, the homemade laundry soap does not have the optical brighteners that commercial detergents have, the bluing helps make the whites whiter and even helps out with the colors, just be sure not to get it on your clothing undiluted.

    If you use your gray water on your lawn or any other plants, omit the borax, it will kill plants, just omit that ingredient, your clothes will come out just as clean.

    This is septic safe.

    Wretha

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