Making homemade laundry soap is one of the easiest green cleaning steps you can take. You will use some easy to purchase available products add a little elbow grease and you are set!
Granular Homemade Laundry Soap
What you need:
1 large bar or pure soap (Sunlight soap or Fels Naptha)
1 cup of washing soda
1 cup of borax
Grater
Airtight container
Grate the soap bar on the fine side. Mix 2 cups of it with the borax and washing soda. Store in an airtight container. Use 2 tablespoons per laundry load.
Liquid laundry soap
What you need:
1 large bar pure soap (grated)
1/2 cup borax
1/2 cup washing soda
6 cups of water
A large bucket with a lid (this will be your storage container)
Put two cups of soap into a large saucepan. Add the water and heat gently until the soap has melted. Add the borax and washing soda and stir until it is all dissolved. Remove from the heat.
In your bucket add 4 cups if hot water then your soap mixture and stir it until mixed. Add another 1 gallon (4 lts or 16 cups) of water to the bucket and stir. Let the soap stand for 24 hrs when it will become gel like.
You can add 1/2 cup to each full load of laundry in a small machine and 1 cup in a large machine.
Need further recipes?
Spot and stain remover:
You can use any of the follow green cleaning recipes for stain removers:
Pre-soak the stained item in 1 part hydrogen peroxide to eight past water over night.
On white clothing mix 1 tablespoon of borax to 6 tablespoons of water until it forms a paste. Dab it onto the stain, then wash as usual.
How about a green fabric softener?
Simply add 1/2 cup baking soda OR vinegar to your rinse cycle for soft clothes.
Go Greener
Stop using your tumble dryer!
In summer and warm winter days line dry all your washing. In winter make sure you have an indoor clothes line or buy a clothes horse to hang up your clean laundry.
Encourage your friends to make the switch to homemade laundry soap by giving them a batch ot it as a gift with the recipe stuck on the lid of the container.
Recommended Reads....
