When I say I've been making it though.....I have to tell you I feel kinda like I'm lying because I've only made it twice...so it's not like I'm slaving over it. No, I bought a box of Borax, a box of washing soda (which is completely different than baking soda mind you), a 3 pack of Dial bar soap and gave it a go. Now.....I've read a lot of different recipes so here's another. LOL! One I read said to use Fels Naptha (sp?)...it's a bar soap specifically made for laundry....I also read that the Duggars along with plenty of others just use the bar soap of their choice. Growing up we used Dial and it is just the smell of clean to me (I can't use that in the shower....drys me out...anywho).....so that's what I used. Plain ol' yellow Dial. Those ingredients were like $10-$13....can't remember and it'll change anyway based on where you live. So basically most recipes went like this....
1 bar of soap grated (apparently you can pop it in the microwave for like 30 sec. though? I did mine in the food processor....not going to lie. I did use the grating attachment though).
1 cup washing soda
1/2 cup Borax
Now here's where a lot of people differ....how much water to add. I read where one blogger used 3 gallons for this....the Duggars use 5 gallons....let it set overnight....split it and add that much water again. Here's a link to their recipe (which says Fels Naptha BUT if watch it on youtube they use Dove...I think....but they don't use FN).
I toyed around with the first batch. I made a 5 gallon bucket full and then I would fill my container half way and then fill the rest of the way with water. In the end I just started filling the container completely with detergent and going that route. Can't say I saw a ton of difference but it was just easier. So the next batch I just had 5 one gallon jugs (old vinegar bottles....yeah...I use a lot of vinegar) that I filled with the goop and called it good. It's seriously goop too. It's got like jelly consistency clumps in it. A lot of them. Here's a close up and a not so close up (I'm no photographer).
That second picture...not so helpful...those clouds though are the clumps.
So you grate your bar and melt it completely in hot water. I just fill a large pot with water, pour in the grated soap, and stir until the soap is dissolved. I don't let it boil because I think I read somewhere that it can make a bubbly mess. Then I dump it in my 5 gallon bucket that I have sitting in my tub, turn on the faucet to hottest possible, when hot I start filling up my 5 gallon bucket. I also dump my 1 cup of washing soda and 1/2 cup of Borax in and stir, stir, stir. I put the lid on and let it set for 24 hours. After 24 hours I funnel the sludge into the gallon buckets and voila! Done....for 6 months!!!! Love it!!
I don't like to do steps a billion times so for me...I just grated all 3 bars of soap the first time I had out my food processor and measured out enough Borax and Washing Soda in different containers for 2 more loads and so this past time it seriously took all of like 10 min. to mix it up....if that much.
I've read where people add scents...you know...do what you will. I don't. Sometimes I wished I had BUT I started making my own fabric softner and now I've got my smell good :) I'll tell you about that in a much shorter post next.
OH....and before I forget here's some more crappy pictures of the container of grated soap and the container of Borax and Washing Soda....I guess so you can see how I roll? I don't know....
No comments:
Post a Comment