Disclaimer: if you want the short version of a Pro making soap, read my Aunt's blog. HERE. :)
In June of last year, I read on my cousin Becky's blog that she had made her own liquid laundry soap. As with most of her projects (such as building a variety of nifty items from upcycled pallets, growing truckloads of tomatoes and making her own salsa, and doing an absolutely AMAZING guest room makeover), I simply accepted the fact that I am not, and have never been, a crafty-homey-striped walls-soap-and-salsa kind of girl. I hate coupons, I hate sale shopping (tons of people crawling all over each other and everything is a MESS), the list goes on and on. But in the last year, as I've committed to working a little less and to taking Proverbs 31 a little more seriously, I have found myself making positive changes. Going to the gym. Trying to be more helpful to my husband. And actually having the time and energy to imagine that I might be a little more crafty than I give myself credit for--and using my clumsy, newfound craftiness to save our family money.
Thus, begins...the great soap-making escapade. Rich came home a couple of nights ago and asked me if I had heard on the news that some stores are now placing anti-theft devices on Tide detergent. Apparently it is so expensive now that people are stealing it and selling it on the "laundry soap black market." Don't believe it? Click HERE. That's when I jumped up on my mental soapbox (pardon the pun) and thought, "I don't have to take this anymore!!! Paying $8-10 for a 48-oz bottle of detergent is ridiculous!!! I will make my OWN SOAP and save TONS OF MONEY!!!!" It's at this moment when you begin to imagine that the money you save on laundry soap will fund an annual trip to Bora Bora, or allow you to purchase a shiny new Porsche. The new four-door one. In black. You get the picture.
I set out to make my own soap. My Aunt Kim's blog makes soap-making seem as easy as making a pot of soup. Of course being Becky's mother, what would you expect??? So off to the store I went. This is the basic recipe for the soap: 1 bar of grated soap, 2 cups borax, 2 cups super washing soda, 1 qt + 2 gallons of water. Also have available a 3+ gal bucket, a 2-cup measure, wooden spoon or stir stick, cheese grater, a large funnel, and 3, 1-gallon containers to store your soap. I soon discovered that there are MANY kinds of bar soap. I did not see the Kirk's Castile soap that I was searching for, but I did find some "laundry bar soap" which I purchased. According to Becky you can use any bar of soap you want, but I will save that for later. I got my super washing soda, borax, 2 bars of Fels-Naptha soap, and 2 gallons of water. I figured I could use the water for my soap and increase the purity of the detergent...who am I kidding, I just didn't have any gallon jugs sitting around my house!!!! :)
Upon my return home, I started 1 quart of water to boiling and began grating soap.
Man oh man was that difficult. There were tiny specks of soap flying everywhere. In hindsight if I was smart, I would have set my grater inside the bucket and done it that way. Anyways soon my shiny stove was looking like this. The mess had begun.
This is the time to address an issue. Microwaving soap to melt it does not work. I tried it because SOMEONE (named Becky) said she had read it on a blog. Halfway through grating, my hand was tired. So, I chopped up the rest of the block and microwaved it. Ha, ha, ha. It turned into a puffy, lumpy mess that looked like brains, and it would NOT MELT. I ended up using half of the 2nd bar of soap to complete the grating. I also grated my hand, which is actually my worst irrational fear in the kitchen. I love knives, I hate grating. I usually make Rich do it.
I will use the microwaved soap in the future, I'm sure. Once it dries out it should be fine! I added the boiling quart of water and stirred the soap up. It melted nicely with only a few small clumps that didn't melt. I actually had already set a half-gallon more of the water to boiling, so I strained the clumps out of the soap via funnel into the half-full gallon container.
I then added 2 cups of borax and 2 cups of washing soda into my bucket with the unmelted soap lump right on top. I figured the second time around with boiling water should do the trick (and it did). I stirred the powders into the boiling water really well, and then I added the gallon of soapy water just discussed above along with the 2nd gallon of water. I stirred and stirred for about one minute. There was a lot of foam on the top but it died down fairly well. I let it sit for about two minutes as I rustled up a funnel.
Look at all my soap!!! Compare a 2.5 gallon bucket of soap the 50-oz bottle next to it!
This was when I had visions of approximately 2.5 gallons of soap being all over my kitchen. I decided that even I have been in strength training for 6 months, I would not attempt to lift and pour the soap into the jugs. I used a 2-cup measure and scooped into my soap bucket. What my Aunt Kim describes sweetly as "gel soap," I suddenly discovered had swiftly become more like cold turkey gravy, or soft set jello. It even make a shloooop sound as I dipped my measuring cup into it. This is when things got messy. I got the gel soap all over my arms up to my elbows, all over the stove, and even overfilled both gallons just a little which left gel soap running all over the place.
I filled 2.5 gallons with soap!!!!!!! You need one capful for a load which is approximately 2 oz. So I have enough soap to wash 160 loads of laundry and it cost me only $12.14--AND I still have 1/2 bar (plus the microwaved soap, to total 1 bar, and over half of the borax and washing soda...so if you want to get technical and say I used half of the ingredients (which I didn't), the laundry soap cost about $6.07--about 3.8 cents per load!!! My 50-oz bottle of detergent cost me about $9 on average and washes only 25 loads of laundry--which comes out to about 36 cents a load.
Making this soap and cleaning up my kitchen took me about 50 minutes, and as I writing my blog the washer stopped. I just pulled out wet towels and sniffed them. They don't have a strong detergent smell--they have a faint, clean smell. I think I'm gonna like this soap! I actually feel quite accomplished and feel like today's trial run went pretty, all things considered. I hopefully will not have to make soap again for a long time...we go through about 5 loads of laundry weekly so I am hoping this soap will last 7-8 months! Since I already have the stuff to make another batch, it looks like I will be spending $12.14 per year on laundry detergent! Awesome.
