Homemade laundry soap experiment.....

Ok, now this post has been a 3+ month project!!  I found a really awesome homemade laundry soap online that I wanted to try out.  So I bought all the stuff and wanted to wait to post until I had used it all up so that I could say how long it lasted me.  The original poster said this soap would last her for almost a year!!  Well......mine only lasted a little over 3 months!  The recipe said to use 1-3 Tbsp of soap per load.  I think psychologically I didn't think that 1 Tbs of soap would really clean my clothes, so I always used 2-3 Tbsp per load.  Small loads I would use 1 Tbsp, but usually 2-3.  It all depended on load size.  And maybe I just do a lot of laundry!! With 4 kids and a hard working husband, I have LOTS of clothes to wash.........

So here are the ingredients for the first batch that I made and started using March 1st.  I ran out July 11th.  Not bad for only costing me $25.63!!  This recipe called for some kind of Fabric Softener crystals.  Our clothes still came out staticy, if that's a word, and I ended up needing a dryer sheet. Maybe I needed more than one bottle? It wasn't too pricy, but I decided to leave it out of the next batch since it didn't seem to do anything, and I don't mind using dryer sheets.

This is the second batch that I just made tonight.  So I will start using this July 13th! I'm hoping this will last me longer than the first batch.  I made a few changes.  I left out the Purex Crystals, and used a cheaper type of Oxy clean that was also double the size!! So my price change was $6.76 cheaper!!

I didn't take a picture of my first batch, but this is how much soap it makes.  I remember that the two jars with the green lids were not this full the first time around.  The Oxy Clean bucket is being reused from my first batch.  I just keep some soap in that with a Tbsp measurer and refill when it's low.

This soap is super easy to make and I don't notice it making my clothes feel any different than other soap we have used before.  All you do is grate the Fels Naptha bars with a cheese grater, and dump everything into a tub and mix!!  Just be careful of all the powder in the air!! I sneeze a lot while making this! I did notice that the first time around the soap pieces would sometimes still be left in my washing machine if I did a quick cycle or used cold water.  So my wonderful mother-in-law told me that she blends hers in a blender!!  I did that this time and now the soap is super fine and I shouldn't have a problem with it dissolving! I'm so glad for that useful tip!! Be careful when blending, you have to blend it with one of the other ingredients or you get a hot chunk of soap in the bottom of the blender! Not very fun to try and get out!

So good luck and let me know if you try it and if you do or don't like it!!