homemade laundry soap

i've been looking into ways to save money and came across the idea to make my own laundry soap. i was skeptical, but after learning that our local grocer carries all the "ingredients," i thought i should give it a try. i purchased what i needed on saturday and today i mixed up my first batch. it's really simple. i found a variety of "recipes" on a bunch of different websites. i just used the one that was easiest to remember.

Homemade Powdered Laundry Soap
2 cups grated Fels-Naptha (laundry bar soap)
1 cup borax
1 cup washing soda



the hardest part is grating the Fels-Naptha. otherwise, you just mix the powders together with the grated soap. easy peasy! there's only one problem with it. my husband and eldest son are both super-sensitive to fragrances...especially those found in detergents. {in fact, we typically avoid detergent aisles while shopping because the smells give T a bad headache and plugged-up nasal passages.} i've been using fragrance free laundry detergents since early in our marriage when we found one that actually worked. anyways, the Fels-Naptha drove my eldest son right out of the kitchen where we had also been working on schoolwork. i think it has a sort of citrus fragrance, but it's quite overwhelming. and by the time i had finished grating what i needed for my recipe, the back of my throat was feeling irritated just from having to smell it. ugh.

i was then worried that using this scented soap would make our laundry smell too. i went ahead and tested it on a load of towels, and was pleased when they came out smelling fresh and clean. my hubby even stuck his nose into one of the cleaned towels and didn't have a reaction to it, so i was given the go ahead to use it as long as no one develops a skin reaction to it {these guys have also been known to get rashes from fragrant detergents}. i'm already thinking that when i make my next batch, i'd like to try a fragrance free bar soap instead of the Fels-Naptha. and someday i'm gonna try the "greener living" laundry cleaner: soapnuts.

i've also started using distilled white vinegar in place of fabric softener. i was running low on our fragrance free softener sheets and although i've got a bottle of fragrance free liquid softener, i don't like the spots that it sometimes makes on my clothes. i saw the vinegar tip on many of the same websites that listed laundry soap recipes and decided to give it a go as well. i just fill my washer's fabric softener dispenser with the vinegar. it's about a half cup that gets added during the rinse cycle. i read somewhere that you can also put it in a downy ball if that's how you add softener to your wash. i found that vinegar does a decent job of softening our clothes, but i do seem to have a little more static now. vinegar is tons cheaper though, so i'll probably continue using it. if you decide to try it too, don't be alarmed if your clothes smell like vinegar after washing. the odor dissipates as the clothes dry.

do you make you own laundry soap? have any other home-made cleaner recipes, tips or suggestions? let me know all about it by leaving a comment.

**UPDATE**
it's only been a couple days since i posted this, but i think i'm going to have to dispose of this first batch after all. i've only used it on one load of clothes, but the smell from just opening the container to scoop some out overwhelms us. it's not a good sign when the smell of your laundry soap gives you a headache. i'm going to have to see how much it will cost to buy unscented laundry soap bars online and see if it's still worth making my own.