Guest Post: Homemade Laundry Soap

It's two days before Christmas, and all through the house, the guests, kids, pets and who know's else are adding to your laundry pile! Fun right? Today's DIY post is about making your own laundry soap, and we have our first guest blogger!!

But first, here's some info to chew on while you're grating a bar of soap later (you'll see :)

There's lots of talk circulating around ingredients and in everything these days. When it comes to items in our homes - the things we live with and use constantly, sometimes less is more. The more you are exposed to anything, the more it may build up in the body whether you breathe it, eat it or place it against your skin. Not to be alarmist or anything.

The scientific process can move slowly to point fingers at any one ingredient without lengthy trials, but sometimes the precautionary principle is simply the safest route for we civilians to take as we wait for the verdict.

For your nerd-out moment, here is a definition of the Precautionary Principle brought to you from the Science and Environmental Health Network, created by a team of lawyers, scientists and philosophers:

 "When an activity raises threats of harm to human health or the environment, precautionary measures should be taken even if some cause and effect relationships are not fully established scientifically. In this context the proponent of an activity, rather than the public, should bear the burden of proof. The process of applying the precautionary principle must be open, informed and democratic and must include potentially affected parties. It must also involve an examination of the full range of alternatives, including no action."

In other words, better safe now than sorry later.

This brings me to introduce this week's topic shared with us by one of my closest friends Kristen and her soon-to-be husband Adam, and their new blog, Honey Hole Goodness. On their corner of the web, you will soon find everything handmade, fly-fishing related talk and just simple good living. Honey holes are what fisherman call great fishing spots, by the way! Look for their blog to hit the ground running in 2015.

Kristen was a bridesmaid in my wedding, and was also my master's thesis project partner <3 She has always been supportive and encouraging, and is one of my favorite things about being in this part of the country!

Loft Photographie

Here we go with Kristen's post today (all photos are her own)!

For years now, I have been wanting to make my own laundry soap, but one thing or another distracted me from doing so. My fiance, Adam and I recently moved into our first home together so along with all the good nesting we’ve been doing, we decided to start making our own laundry soap and cleaning supplies. We both are big fans of being able to pronounce all the ingredients in the products we use to clean our clothes and the surfaces throughout our home. I asked friends and family for recommendations on laundry soap recipes and most shared this recipe with me from DIY Natural.
After reading over the ingredients, process, and cost saving breakdown, I made a trip to our local hardware store and was able to buy all the ingredients for under 10 bucks. All ingredients can be found in cleaning supplies aisles at your grocery store as well.

1 - 55 oz. box of Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda

1 - 76 oz. box of 20 Mule Team Borax

1 - 4.5 oz. bar of soap 

I used a bar of Fel-Naptha because my grandmother always swore by it, but the DIY Natural recipe noted that other soaps like Dr. Bronners, Ivory, Pure & Natural, Zote, and homemade soap all work well too. The most time consuming part of this recipe is grating the bar of soap which took me about 10 minutes. I also picked up a hand grater at the store for a couple bucks to avoid using our food-friendly grater. To speed up this part of the process, you can also use a blender or food processor to get the bar of soap down to fine powder. Once you’ve grated the bar of soap, measure out 1 cup each of the washing soda and borax. Mix all three ingredients together well.

The laundry detergent should be a fine powder blend of the washing soda, borax, and bar of soap. Simply transfer the detergent to an airtight container for storage.

I used a 64 oz. mason jar to store the detergent in and a 2 tbs. wooden spoon to measure out the 1-2 tbs. recommended amount per load. Next time I make the soap, I will simply double the recipe to make more at once.

After using this soap for a handful of laundry sessions, our clothes are clean and stain-free. I am sensitive to fragrance and this detergent treats me well. Making our own detergent was simple, affordable, and gave me a sense of satisfaction that I can identify the ingredients in the soap.

For a step-by-step pictorial breakdown of the recipe and an in-depth discussion of costs, and notes on using this detergent with HE appliances and septic tanks, visit DIY Natural.

Our next homemade cleaning project will be an all-purpose cleaning spray. A huge thanks to Mrs. Green for asking me to be a guest on her blog and for her everyday inspiration! Meant Green has motivated Adam and I to get our much talked about blog up and running, more to come soon. Happy day to all!