On a recent shopping trip to Wal-Mart, I happened upon the detergent aisle, where I came across a section of the shelf that both inspired and delighted me.
No, I am not being dramatic!
The reason this made me so happy....
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These are the three ingredients you need to make homemade laundry soap, and this recipe had been floating around Pinterest for weeks. Does the person who orders detergent for the Epps Bridge Wal-Mart make their own soap, or do they just keep in touch with Pinterest and other social media? Either way, the display worked on me, and I purchased one bar of Fels Naptha soap, a box of Borax and a box of Arm & Hammer washing powder.
The recipe I used called for 1/3 bar of Fels Naptha (grated), 1/2 cup of washing soda and 1/2 cup Borax.
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You will need to have a large container (~2 gal.) to put the finished soap in, while in the meantime, you mix the ingredients, along with about 6 cups of water, in a pot. Place the pot on the stove and heat and stir until everything is dissolved. Place the solution in your container and fill the container with enough water to make 2 gallons. Leave this mixture to sit for about 24 hours. It will gel, and you can use this to wash your clothes!
I use 3/4 per load in our large washing machine. Use less if you have a smaller machine. This is a low-suds formula, so don't be disappointed if you don't see bubbles. Remember, suds don't get your clothes clean, soap does!
In the future, I plan to use my very own homemade soap to make this, rather than the Fels-Naptha. At the time, I did not have any unscented soap on hand, but I am planning on whipping up a batch of unscented, hypoallergenic soap for babies, and I expect this to be the perfect type for making laundry soap.
To check out more of my soap, see my blog: SoapGirl.tumblr.com
Happy Soaping!
