Scaling Mt. Laundry.........

Today is the day I must catch up on laundry. As you can probably tell, it is not a task I particularly enjoy, but there is some satisfaction in the finished outcome.

One highlight of my day will be the making of my own laundry soap...a skill I was inspired to perfect when a friend, who isn't normally "crafty" decided to give it a try to help save some money for her family of 10 (she and her husband have 4 natural kiddos and 4 foster children). She was inspired after watching the TLC show 19 kids and Counting featuring the lives of the famous Duggar family. She found Michelle Duggar's recipe for homemade laundry soap on their family website and decided to give it a shot. Much to her relief, it turned out wonderfully and she has been making her own laundry soap for many, many months now. Not wanting to miss this opportunity to be frugal, I decided to give it a go myself.

Much to my frustration, my first batch of soap was a major flop. Granted, I did not follow the directions correctly either, but that's because I tend to go about things by the most difficult route the first time around. I've never understood why. Anyway, the trouble began when I decided to attempt a half-batch instead of following the directions exactly when I'd never made anything like it before. I didn't know what to look for or how the finished product was supposed to look either. Luckily, the ingredients I wasted weren't that expensive! (That would have made me mad)

Here is the recipe Michelle Duggar uses for her laundry soap (copied from the Duggar Family's website with my own annotations in brackets):

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


4 Cups - hot tap water

1 Fels-Naptha soap bar

1 Cup - Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda*

½ Cup Borax

1- Grate bar of soap and add to saucepan with water. Stir continually over medium-low heat until soap dissolves and is melted.  {This step took the longest. Take the time to make sure it is completely dissolved! You don't want to be able to see ANY little bits of grated soap. It should be completely melted}

2-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.  {The mixture will feel slippery like soap...because it IS soap :)...haha }

3-{the next day} 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)  {Do not panic if it looks "lumpy"...you did it correctly. That is how it's supposed to look! It will feel a bit like a watery jelly consistency. Give it a good stir and don't worry about the lumps. They will not effect your soap's cleaning ability at all....and they'll just be back the next time you fill up your dispenser anyway as the soap tends to settle when it sits. Congrats! You did it, you soap-maker you!!!}

4-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)

*Arm & Hammer "Super Washing Soda" - in some stores or may be purchased online here (at Meijer.com). Baking Soda will not work, nor will Arm & Hammer Detergent - It must be sodium carbonate!!

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 often be found on the laundry or cleaning aisle.

Well, there you have it. My little tip for saving money as you tackle Mt. Laundry in your home. Here are pictures of the products in case you have never heard of any of them before:

This recipe is easy and inexpensive to make and works wonderfully in my front loading machine. The amount of soap it makes lasts my family of 6 several months (depending on how tall Mt. Laundry has grown because this fluctuates) and costs approximately $6.00 to make a 5 gallon bucket full. That's concentrate, folks!! That's right, you add equal parts soap to water into an empty laundry soap jug (which I know you frugal folks have been saving for something) and there you have it.....10 whole gallons of your own totally customizable laundry soap.

We love it and it has saved us probably upwards of $80 or more so far on soap!!! Try it. I'd love to hear how it works for you and your family. Leave me a comment and let me know.

{If you live in my area, I buy all the ingredients I need for this at Winco and I bought my lovely aqua-colored 5 gallon bucket for $4.97 at Walmart. It matches my lovely bathroom and that thrills me to no end!}

Blessings,