Laundry Soap

If you had asked me in college I would have told you that I used liquid laundry soap (usually liquid Tide) and a sheet of fabric softener (Bounce, the normal scent, way before they had different ones to choose from). After college I continued in this manner, only with cheaper powdered detergent, until I had a kid in cloth diapers. We used a variety of cloth diapers, most of which had fleece on them on some part. I discovered early on that too much soap +/- fabric softener led to detergent building up on the fleece and problems with the diapers no longer working right. So…. we changed our routine. It turns out that cloth diapers are a gateway drug to the natural-ish lifestyle.

So Tide and bounce were now out and I found myself scouring the laundry detergent aisle for a cheap, limited additive laundry soap that got the job done. Not even easy to say, but certainly easier said than done. Eventually after about 2 years I discovered making my own.  I played with the recipe. Here’s what I came up with as a final finished product:

Powdered Laundry Detergent:

• 1 bar grated Fels Naptha soap (finely grated with a box grater or a food processor)
• 4 cups of washing soda (sold in the laundry aisle, in a pinch use baking soda)
• 4 cups of borax (again in the laundry aisle).
  

For light load, use 1 tablespoon. For heavy or soiled load, use 2 tablespoons.

Recently my sister asked me if I had ever made my own laundry soap. Uh, yes. I’ve been doing it for about 5.5 years. When I shared my recipe she said something like, “You’ve GOT to send me these things when you find them.”  And so I am.