laundry detergent

DIY: How to make liquid laundry soap

Liquid laundry soap

In order to avoid chemicals and save the environment; I make my own laundry soap. It works really well. No smelly clothes. In fact the clothes has no smell at all. And it also saves a lot of money 🙂 Very easy to make – all positive 🙂

The price of 20 litres of non-toxic, environmentally friendly easy-made laundry detergent is about 20 kr (3$). Any supermarket here selling this will charge you more than 50 kr for 1.5 litre

Here is how to make it:

Grate one bar of castile soap with a cheese grater or a food processor.

Put the grated soap in a pan with 2 quarts water and gradually heat, stirring constantly until soap is completely
dissolved.

Put 15 litres of really hot tap water in a 17 litre bucket and stir in 2 cups of Washing Soda until completely dissolved.

Pour soap mixture from pan into the 17 litre bucket. Stir well.

Liquid laundry soap

Cover and leave overnight.

Shake or stir until smooth and pour into empty bottles. I use old water and coke bottles.

Use 1 cup per load of laundry. To retain colour and soften the water, I use a bit of vinegar each time.

DIY: How to Make Washing Soda

Making washing soda is a very simple process. You basically need to bake “baking soda”.

Tools: An oven, a pan, a heat-proof utensil and the baking soda.

STEP 1:

Pour out the baking soda onto the oven-safe pan and spread it out to a thin layer. If you need a lot, use two pans.

Making washing soda
Making washing soda

It is important that the layer is thin because that way the heat can penetrate all of it more quickly and you won’t have to keep your oven on for so long.

DIY: Making washing soda

STEP 2:

Heat your oven to 200 – 230° C (400-450° F). Place the pan(s) of baking soda into your heated oven for about 1 – 1.5 hours. I stirred the baking soda around while it was in there.

DIY: Making washing soda
DIY: Making washing soda

STEP 3:

The baking soda has turned to washing soda when it gets a slightly more grainy texture, less shiny, grey colour. Baking soda is fluffy, powdery, and slightly shiny.

STEP 4:

Remove your pan of washing soda from the oven and allow it to cool completely. Then use it to make your laundry detergent or just store it in a clearly labelled container. I usually make a lot and use part of it immediately to make liquid laundry soap and part of it I store (it takes much less space as powder than liquid laundry detergent).

Good luck