Duggars Laundry soap recipe:

[rainbowgc]

TIPS FOR LAUNDRY SOAP: We use Fels-Naptha bar soap in the homemade soap recipes, but you can use Ivory, Sunlight, Kirk's Hardwater Castile or Zote bars. Don't use heavily perfumed soaps. We buy Fels-Naptha by the case from our local grocer or online. Washing Soda and Borax can normally be found on the laundry or cleaning aisle. Recipe cost approx. $2.
[ame="http://www.amazon.com/Dial-Corp-04303-Fels-Naptha-Laundry/dp/B001B32NVO/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=hpc&qid=1272207409&sr=8-1"]Amazon.com: Dial Corp. 04303 Fels-Naptha Laundry Bar Soap: Health & Personal [email protected]@[email protected]@http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/[email protected]@[email protected]@417g9IgWY0L[/ame]

Homemade Liquid Laundry Soap- Front or top load machine- best value

4 Cups hot tap water
1 Fels-Naptha soap bar
1 Cup Washing Soda
½ Cup Borax

- Grate bar of soap and add to saucepan with water. Stir continually over medium-low heat until soap dissolves and is melted.

-Fill a 5 gallon bucket half full of hot tap water. Add melted soap, washing soda and Borax. Stir well until all powder is dissolved. Fill bucket to top with more hot water. Stir, cover and let sit overnight to thicken.

-Stir and fill a used, clean, laundry soap dispenser half full with soap and then fill rest of way with water. Shake before each use. (will gel)

-Optional: You can add 10-15 drops of essential oil per 2 gallons. Add once soap has cooled. Ideas: lavender, rosemary, tea tree oil.

-Yield: Liquid soap recipe makes 10 gallons.

-Top Load Machine- 5/8 Cup per load (Approx. 180 loads)

-Front Load Machines- ¼ Cup per load (Approx. 640 loads)



Powdered Laundry Detergent- Top load machine

1 Fels-Naptha soap bar
1 Cup Washing Soda
½ Cup Borax

-Grate soap or break into pieces and process in a food processor until powdered. Mix all ingredients. For light load, use 1 Tablespoon. For heavy or heavily soiled load, use 2 Tablespoons. Yields: 3 Cups detergent. (Approx. 40 loads)





Inexpensive Fabric Softener Recipes

Recipe #1
1 Cup White Vinegar
Add vinegar to rinse cycle. Works great. Removes residue and odors. Also helps to keep washing machine and hoses fresh and clean too.

Recipe #2

1 Container of Name Brand Fabric Softener
4 Inexpensive sponges, cut in half

Pour entire container of softener into a 5 gallon bucket. Fill empty softener container with water twice. (2 parts water to 1 part softener) Add sponges to softener/water mixture. When ready to use wring out extra mixture from one sponge and add to the dryer as you would a dryer sheet.

[JM]

I found a bar of Linda's Laundry Soap, would it work in place of the one listed?

Thank you.

[Palooka]

I seen their show the other night about how they make this. Very interesting when they broke down the cost.

[homemaker66]

Thank you for the great thread. I would like to try it just if I can remember to get the items when Iam shopping.

[tbs727]

They must order their washing soda online somewhere because we live in the same town, and none of our stores carry it.

[jkbmum]

thank u i am going to try this

[Yart]

I just bought everything to make this today. And I was going to have to look up the recipe... Thank you for posting.

[ame="http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0029XNTEU/ref=as_li_tf_til?tag=usave2daycom&camp=0&creative=0&linkCode=as1&creativeASIN=B0029XNTEU&adid=0HFWT0T84X3EN98P7WFH"]Amazon.com: Arm & Hammer Super Wash Soda, Detergent Booster 55 oz (1559 g): Kitchen & [email protected]@[email protected]@http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/[email protected]@[email protected]@51ltxVTmnmL[/ame]

[JM]

I made the soap last night and used it with a load today. Does it look pretty much like grey water with gelly clouds of white floating around?

It smells great.

My wife is kind of freaked because it doesn't sud tho...

[hwmabire3]

It sounds like this makes a LOT of soap. I'll be interested to find out how well it cleans compared to store bought detergents. I used to think that cheap stuff was just as good as the expensive stuff, but when I got a free sample of Tide, I found out differently. I hate the price tag, but Tide seems to be the detergent that gets my clothes the cleanest.

[Nishu]

It sounds like this makes a LOT of soap. I'll be interested to find out how well it cleans compared to store bought detergents. I used to think that cheap stuff was just as good as the expensive stuff, but when I got a free sample of Tide, I found out differently. I hate the price tag, but Tide seems to be the detergent that gets my clothes the cleanest.

My story's pretty much the same... I used the less expensive stuff for ages, but all my clothes were coming out just about as messy as when I would put them in.

I just bought all my stuff tonight. Hopefully it works.

[JM]

After doing 3 loads we found that worked well, very well for the price. We don't mind the lack of suds and scent.

I'm not allowed to post links yet so I'll post a quote.

How Well Does It Work?
Naturally, I wanted to test this detergent out. I tried to think of a good way to do something foul to a shirt, but something realistic - something I might do as a rather normal Midwestern guy that might also occur to any other guy in America. The answer hit me quickly.

Mustard.

I took two white t-shirts and squirted them both down with mustard, all over the front. Here are the two t-shirts:

Mustard Stained T

The above t-shirt is the one I washed with Tide with Bleach Alternative, which is the laundry detergent we’ve used by default when we don’t have any homemade detergent on hand. It’s the one most highly recommended by Consumer Reports and this is the perfect opportunity to show what it can do. After I took the picture, I smeared the mustard into the shirt a little.

Mustard Stained T

The above t-shirt is the one I washed with my homemade detergent. My mustard container ran out near the end here so the trail of mustard isn’t as long. I had already smeared in the mustard when I took this picture. Also note, although the pictures don’t clearly reflect it, the one smeared with homemade detergent was somewhat dingier right off the bat - it’s an older shirt, I believe.

Down in the laundry room, I pre-treated each stain by taking a small amount of each detergent and rubbing it into the stain with a brush. Then, I washed each shirt in a normal load - one load with Tide with Bleach Alternative and one with my homemade detergent.

Which one won? I fully expected the Tide to win - in fact, I was just hoping the blowout wasn’t too bad so I would still have a good reason to write this article. In fact, they turned out almost identically - they both smelled clean and looked quite white coming out of the dryer. Take a look:

Mustard vs. Homemade Detergent

With the homemade detergent, you can still make out parts of the mustard streak, but other parts appear to be completely gone. With a proper pre-treatment or a washing in bleach, this shirt would be as good as new.

Mustard vs. Tide: The Result

With Tide with Bleach Alternative, the same exact story is true. You can still make out where the stain was if you look close, but it’s almost completely gone. A proper treatment would have resulted in no stain at all.

Here they are, side by side, for you to judge. The Tide shirt is on the right, while the homemade detergent shirt is on the left:

Side by Side

They’re pretty close. They’re both obviously very clean white tee shirts with a slightly noticeable mustard stain. At different points in each mustard streak, the streak appears completely gone - at other places, it’s fairly noticeable. That’s likely due more to my pre-treatment application than anything else.

Frankly, I couldn’t tell a difference between the two. Both detergents produced a clean-smelling shirt. Both produced a very white shirt with just a slight remnant of a mustard stain - a remnant that was almost identical in the two shirts. In a nutshell, I believe my homemade detergent cleans comparably to Tide with Bleach Alternative.

[Nishu]

I've got my 3rd load in the wash right now. I'm using both this and the homemade fabric softener that was just posted.

Just fyi guys, if you're doing the dry version, and handy chopper (mini food processor) will probably not work. If you try it, you'll probably need to do little sections at a time.

My Fels Naptha was left in slightly larger pieces and I assumed that as long as I used warm enough water it would dissolve ok anyway. I don't have any residue or chunks on my clothes, but I found two little chunks on the drum of my washer. The soap seems to be working pretty well anyway. The only load to come out of the dryer though has been jeans and dark blue towels, so I may find a tougher load hasn't done as well.

[nic4549]

I made my own laundry detergent last week. However, I could not find washing soda, so I used baking soda. It works well for now. I have found that Publix in town carried washing soda, so I will buy some and use it next time. I like it a lot. Seems to work very well.

[rainbowgc]

Another green product - recycled laundry jugs!

[nic4549]

I finally found washing soda. The only place I could find it was at Publix. I bought all they had (5 boxes). I have been using baking soda instead of washing soda and has seemed to work just fine. I really like using my home made laundry detergent. I have always had to be very picky about the detergents I use. My husband and kids both have extremely bad escema. This allows me to controll the products more.