laundry soap

so in my 30s, i've discovered there's a crunchy, granola hippie living inside of me.  who knew?  she likes to whisper crazy things to me, like "let's grow a big veggie garden & get chickens!!".  she's crazy like that. 

clint has a crazy, hippie ray lamontagne type living in him too, so it works.

& until we can get a bigger yard, we have to settle with things like making our own laundry soap... 

did you know you could?
 i KNOW!  so cool.  we've used this recipe for more than 6 months now & it hasn't disappointed.  my favorite part, okay apart from it being cheap is the light, fresh smell.  now that use this stuff, all the store bought detergents areway too over powering & give me a headache.  when i used them all the time, i didn't really notice, but that smell can't be so good for you.

oh, & did i mention that making it is SO CHEAP??!  i used to dread having to buy that big box of tide because it was so freaking $$. 
crunchy granola girl likes saving money. 
you can find the borax & washing soap @ several grocery stores, but i did have to search a bit.  my HEB doesn't carry washing soap, but Kroger does.  anyway, just do a little investigating.

you only need one special item, which you might already have - a microplaner.

it's a grater, but makes tiny slivers & helps the soap to dissolve much better.  microplaners are great in the kitchen too for things like parmesan cheese, or lemon/orange zesting.  you're likely to get some good use out of the investment.

so here you go...

HOMEMADE LAUNDRY SOAP

6 cups arm & hammer WASHING soda (NOT baking soda) - this is about 1 box

6 cups mule team BORAX

4 bars of soap**

+  first i grate the soap using the microplaner.  now i'm not going to lie to you - this takes awhile, BUT it makes a great activity to do while catching up on some trash television :)

+  add washing soda & borax to the soap shavings & mix well.

+  & voila!  that's it!  you only need 1/8 c. per load - amazing!!  i use a 1/4c & fill it half way for each load.

**the original recipe, recommends fels naptha soap, but i use this lavendar soap from the dollar store for (you guessed it) $1 each. 

 i love the smell of the lavendar.  ivory or dove would work as well, i'm sure. i do think basic is best. 

ALSO, i ended up buying a bar of fels naptha soap the other day (@ the grocery store) & it's AMAZING @ removing stains - i just got it wet & rubbed it on the {vomit} stain & it came out!

so there you have it, laundry soap for about 7 cents a load.

here's the original recipe i found, if you'd like to know more... HOMEMADE LAUNDRY SOAP by MOMMY'S KITCHEN.