In the CrazyLife family, we have sensitive skin. Like
really sensitive skin. Thing #4 breaks out in goose prickles if anything brushes on his skin and even the sensitive soaps and laundry detergents and such don't work. His poor little belly is always pimpled up.
So last summer I started making my own laundry soap, hoping it would help. And it did!
It was easy really. A couple bars of Fels Naptha soap, grated up. A cup of washing soda. A cup of borax. Mix. Use 1-2 tablespoons in each load. Sometimes I would add half a cup of baking soda as well. If I needed fabric softener, I would add vinegar to the rinse.
But we seemed to go through it so quickly. Even though it lasted longer than commercial laundry soaps, I felt like I was constantly grating soap and making more. I mean, we probably do about 16 loads of laundry a week, if you include all the towels and sheets. (not to mention all the clothes that somehow never make it into the dressers and get thrown back into the laundry, completely folded, when the kids are picking up their bedroom floors!)
So now on top of doing laundry ALL THE TIME, I was making laundry soap, ALL THE TIME.
Something had to be done.
Enter Pinterest (my newest internet obsession!).
I found a "recipe" for laundry soap that was basically the same as what I was doing, but it stretched it further....much, much further. In fact, the batch that I cooked up during Christmas break is still in use...with two and a half more mason jars to go!
Here it is...my miracle laundry soap:
White Purse Laundry Soap
I did switch things up a bit and make it my own, but that is the basic formula/recipe that I used. Plus, it was kind of fun to do.....even the kids got in on the act.
Ingredients:
2 bars Fels Naptha or other soap of choice (I really want to try
ZOTE soap as I've heard it has a great smell and is such a pretty pink color!)
2 cups Borax
2 cups Washing Soda (NOT BAKING soda!)
1 cup baking soda
6 cups water
Steps:
1. Heat water. Grate soap bars.
2. Add grated soap gradually to hot water and melt. Do not boil!
3. Turn off heat and add borax, washing soda and baking soda.
4. Pour into 4 quart size mason jars.
5. Add enough warm water to each jar to fill it almost to the top - to the "shoulders" of the jar, if you will.
6. Cover and let sit overnight.
This is a fun step....the water and soap mixture separate out and look really cool.
7. Take the separated mixture and put it in your blender (not your mixer as I first tried - SUCH a MESS!) And blend until it whips up into a creamy pudding-like mixture. I had to do this in several steps in order to get through it all.
8. Clean out the mason jars used above and re-pack the pudding-like soap mixture into the jars. I was able to fill 6 1/2 quart size mason jars with the finished project.
9. Add a cute label and move to your laundry space.
(seriously, my laundry room is never that clean......no matter how much I wish it was! But doesn't it look so nice in pictures???!!!)
I'm using about one tablespoon in each load of wash and as I mentioned above, we're on two and a half months of the same batch....with two and a half jars left to go. It cleans just as well, if not better than my powdered mixture and is lasting so long, so it's super economical!
The best part is that our family's skin is happy and goose prickle free!
