I was told that this is the recipe (the liquid one) that Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar use for their family of 20. We bought a kit online HERE for $30, including shipping. The soap is easy to grate if you can find a table clamp cheese grater...we found one on Ebay ($11) and the kids do ALL the work. They LOVE to help out. The recipe we tried was the liquid laundry recipe and we LOVE IT! We will never go back to our once-beloved Tide again. And at only $3 per 10 gallons, who can complain about cost! UPDATE: We've been using the first of the recipes for laundry soap for a few months now and I've come to figure out that our family will pay only $18 per year for laundry detergent ! That's less than ONE box of Tide (my former favorite)! ~ Lisa Metzger
Homemade Liquid Laundry Soap
Ingredients:
4 cups hot tap water
1 Fels-Naptha soap bar
1 cup washing soda
½ cup Borax
a.. Grate bar of soap and add to saucepan with water. Stir continually over medium-low heat until soap dissolves and is melted.
b.. Fill a five-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.
c.. 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. (It will gel.)
d.. Optional: You can add 10-15 drops of essential oil per two 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 (approximately 180 loads). Front-load machine: ¼ cup per load (approx. 640 loads).
Powdered laundry detergent
Ingredients:
1 Fels-Naptha soap bar
1 cup washing soda
½ cup Borax
a.. Grate soap or break into pieces and process in a food processor until powdered. Mix all ingredients. For light load, use one tablespoon. For heavy or heavily soiled load, use 2 tablespoons. Yields: three cups detergent (approximately 40 loads).
Inexpensive fabric softener recipes
Recipe No. 1: Add one cup white vinegar to rinse cycle. Works great. Removes residue and odors. Also helps to keep washing machine and hoses fresh and clean too.
Recipe No. 2:
1 container of name-brand fabric softener
4 inexpensive sponges, cut in half
Pour a whole container of softener into a five-gallon bucket. Fill empty softener container with water twice (two parts water to one 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.
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Jun. 13, 2009 - Adding it all up