diy: laundry soap

glop
Originally uploaded by hedgenettle

okay, here is the long awaited recipe for my world-famous homemade laundry soap. it works as well as any environmentally friendly laundry soap, probably not as well as something like Tide, but i wouldn't know really because i don't use Tide or other detergents. i got the frame of reference for my recipe from tipnut .com (http://tipnut.com/10-homemade-laundry-soap-detergent-recipes/) but originally i couldn't find the super washing soda, so i tried the just baking soda recipe...then when i found the washing soda, i made my next batch from memory--an ephemeral thing--eventually i discovered that i had remembered it wrong, but my soap works, and now i can claim it as my own recipe. so, go inaccurate memory!

there are photos of the different ingredients and what the stages look like here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/hedgenettle/sets/72157619580250226/ sorry, but it's too much of a pain in the butt to re-upload them all here, just go to the link if you want to see them.

you will need:

a big bucket (i usually use one of those cat litter buckets, which i would guess is around 2 1/2 gallons)

something to stir with (i use my big hefty soap making spatula, but a wooden spoon would be fine)

a double boiler of some kind (a pot or bowl over another pot of boiling water) make sure whatever you're using to melt the soap in is non-reactive (glass/stainless steel/enamel)

a bar of soap (this should be real soap, not moisturizing bars or anything that is super-fatted (super-fatted means they add extra oil to it to make it more moisturizing) i use plain bulk glycerin soap, but you could use something like ivory or whatever, as long as it's actually soap)

baking soda--1 cup

washing soda--1 cup (this is usually found in the laundry aisle by the borax and whatnot, but it can be hard to find. i got mine at winco in springfield. i *think* it's the same as soda ash, like you would use for dying fabric, so you could probably find it at art and craft stores. you can also order it online.)

2 gallons of water

essential oil (optional, but recommended)

the steps:
1) get your 2 gallons of water in the bucket.
2) prepare your soap: if it's glycerin you can just chop it up. if it's other soap you have to grate it.
3) put a little of the water into your double boiler and add the soap.
4) double boil it to melt the soap (i don't know how long it takes with non-glycerin, but my version is really quick)
5) while your soap is melting, measure your baking soda and washing soda and add them to the bucket of water. stir.
6) now your soap should be melted. add it to the bucket.
7) stir some more.
8) leave it alone.
9) go back and stir it throughout the duration of it's cool-down...like, several times over the day or something. if you don't want to stir it all the time, you should have an immersion blender. if you have an immersion blender: leave it alone and go back to it later that night or the next day and immersion blend the crap out of it, so it's not too chunky.
10) bottle it up (wine bottles make for a classy presentation, but vinegar bottles, milk jugs, old detergent bottles, etc. all work fine. if you are using an opaque container--i know this seems obvious, but keep it in mind when you are actually pouring!!!--keep checking the level as you pour, or it makes a big overflowed mess)...i find it handy to pour my soap into a funnel placed in my container of choice...and if there are a few chunks that didn't get stirred or blended away, you can poke them through with a chopstick.

and a few notes:

use 1/2 cup for an average full load. for a super dirty load, or diapers, use 1 cup.

it doesn't look like store-bought detergent. it looks like a big, thick, lumpy glop. it's not smooth and clear and liquidy.

if you put the melted soap water into the bucket with the sodas before you add the rest of the 2 gallons of water, sometimes it fizzes all funlike...so if you want that, add the water after the soap.

there was some discussion on the tipnut forum about the likelihood of mold growing in the laundry soap. i go through mine so fast, that i doubt it's even an issue, but i've taken to adding essential oil to the soap after it's all cooled (1/2 a teaspoon) which should prevent the growth of mold and will leave your clothes smelling nice, if you line dry. if you machine dry, the e.o. evaporates. if you are REALLY worried about it, but still want to make your own laundry soap, check out the tipnut links for powdered soap recipes.

i think that's it. please comment or e mail or call me if you have questions or i left out any glaringly obvious details. this is REALLY easy and FAST and it will save you A LOT of money, especially if you are buying the environmentally friendly kind. which reminds me, i was never able to find good information on the sustainability/environmental impact of baking soda and washing soda...but they are mined or created in a lab, so, yeah, not ideal. but probably more ideal than buying and using petroleum based detergents, especially since you'd be getting a new bottle every time, and that bottle was shipped from somewhere far away, etc. and the "environmentally friendly" ones probably have pretty similar ingredients as mine. so, unless you're growing your own soapnuts and washing in your rain barrel, and filtering it through some gravel and then using the greywater to water your soapnut plants...it's probably the best convenient laundry soap option out there.

enjoy.

laundry soap teaser

melt the soap bits in a double boiler with some of your water
Originally uploaded by hedgenettle

i know i said i would post the recipe today, but guess what? i was really busy having an awesome day without time to blog! so, i will post it tomorrow. in the meantime if you are just dying to get started, you can look at my flickr page and see all the photos and read their blurbs and get inspired.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/hedgenettle/sets/72157619580250226/

i am grateful for:
1) my art department adviser (he cleared me for advance registration! woot!)
2) the time rodney spends with the kids
3) my car
4) my dad's gas card
5) food

diy and garden time

in the immortal words of david brent (the boss on the original The Office) "(i'm feeding the starving africans)...DO IT YOURSELF!" (in a british accent and all)...i've been DIYing it lately and enjoying that. i've found the internet to be a grand library of various tutorials and recipes for pretty much anything you might want to learn to do or make and my latest projects have been inserting zippers (can you believe it's actually EASY?!) and making laundry soap--this one in particular brings me much joy as laundry detergent is so freaking expensive and i have three kids, one in diapers--i do A LOT of laundry...as in, whatever else i'm doing at any given moment, i'm also doing laundry. plus, it's detergent--a petro-chemical based, harsh, not environmentally friendly consumable good that i go through a ton of. there are "green" laundry soaps out there, but they are super high cost for super low volume and i haven't been able to afford them for years now. i made this laundry soap with a tiny bit of plain glycerin soap (which i had on hand because, you know, i make soap), some baking soda, and water. and yes, it works! i tested it first-thing on diapers--no residue, clean looking and smelling, and fresh! yippee! it cost me probably 6 cents a load, if that. i found the recipes on tipnut.com, which is a place i stumbled on that is very midwestern-frugal feeling, not a flashy, sassy, trendy-looking place, but chock-full of good info nonetheless. most of the recipes call for something called washing soda, which is different than balking soda, but i couldn't find it anywhere in cottage grove, so i settled for the baking soda recipe. i'm gonna try a different recipe next time, for kicks. if i can find washing soda in eugene.

the zipper inserting tutorial i found on uhandbag.com, which is the perfect website for me because it is crammed with tutorials on making all kinds of bags/totes/pouches...i don't get much time to go online, but i love going there when i can to ogle all the bag-related stuff. i needed a new pouch, as the one i had was falling apart...dad gave it to me many years ago from one of his trips to mexico and i keep it in my purse, stowing my wallet and keys and random cards and pens and things in...but i hadn't made myself a new one cuz i didn't know how to do zippers. i thought i could probably wing it, but i checked for a tutorial and voila! i now know how to use the zipper foot on my sewing machine and the pouch i made turned out just grand. i cannot wait to buy more zippers and make about a million more pouches--fun and quick! and, by the way, the zipper i used was in a box of sewing ephemera that gramma judy sent over with kimmy and gregg, so thanks gramma judy, i used the zipper! (there is a LOT of cool stuff in that box, including some stuff you use to make your own lampshade, which i am so going to use to make a shade for my viking warrior lamp named draco). pouches are fun and zippers rock!

i spent a good three hours in the front garden today, pulling out the old brassicas and peas, tidying up the beds, preparing to plant garlic, and planting a few end of summer things that hopefully will produce a little bit (lettuce and etc. salad greens) and get strong enough to weather the winter (leeks). last week i planted some mums and a hibiscus in the front flower bed, they look awesome--much nicer than the overgrown, seed-riddled calendulas that were there...plus there are lots of calendula babies coming up, which tend to over-winter and provide a nice spot of color. i also planted some poppy seeds, which hopefully will come up next spring...i planted them on the street side of the farthest-from-the-house raised bed box to pretty it up a bit--towards august the whole garden tends to get all dead and lumpy looking (except the tomatoes, of course--which we are eating plenty of).

tomorrow is the first day of school and the girls are STOKED! we don't know how long it'll last or what's going to happen, but we're gonna suck the marrow out of it and enjoy every bit. the girls were both asked to be on the welcoming committee--ushering around the new students, showing them the ropes and explaining how things work, like JC and how to get certified for stuff. it's going to be a great year!

i'm grateful for:
the library (what a GOOD idea!)...of late i've read: tigerheart, all the way home, a wolf at the table, and currently how far is the ocean? --all checked out from the library
antibiotics (r. has a vasectomy-related infection at the moment. it sucks)
dirt and compost and duff and all things earth-related
online tutorials (they rock!)
my home