Monday, February 20, 2012

Homemade Laundry Soap Comparison

It's been over a year and a half since I switched to homemade laundry soap. In June 2010 I made my first batch of liquid laundry soap. I loved it. I stored the bulk of the soap in a 5 gallon bucket next to my washer. I used an empty detergent bottle and filled it up as necessary. The liquid soap lasted about 3 months.I heard alot of people talking about how they love the easiness of the powder so in September when I ran out of the liquid I decided to try the powder.

I do agree, it was extremely easy. All you have to do is grate the soap and mix all the ingredients together. Storage is easier because you aren't dealing with a huge bucket of liquid. You only have to use 1 Tablespoon of the powder. I can keep it nicely on top of my dryer and I don't have to refill the container each week.However the powder didn't last me near as long as the liquid did. I even made a double batch the first time I made it. I ran out in about a month.

I think both the liquid and the powder clean equally as well. However, my preference is the liquid. It may be a bit harder to store if you are short on space. I don't mind filling up the bottle every week or two and I like that it lasts me much longer.

Do you use homemade laundry soap? What do you prefer?

9 comments:

  1. I collect all the remains of a soaps, and then I have enough I grate it to use for my laundry.

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  2. I use homemade liquid soap...I've never tried the powder. I love the savings and ease of homemade. When I make it, I pour it into juice jugs (it fills about 7 of them) and then when I am down to half a bottle, I make another batch.

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  3. I've only ever used the powder. I live in an apartment where the washer and dryer aren't on the same floor. The lighter the soap is to carry the happier I am.

    I do have a hope to find a homemade pre-treater, especially for greasy stains. Do you know of one?

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    1. I use Zote soap rubbed right into the stain. Works MUCH better than anything else, even the fancy expensive stuff. I think any soap would do though...

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  4. LunaKm...if you can find the fellsnaptha (sp??) bar soap it works wonderfully as a pre treater....I usually just rip the wrapper half off when I buy a bar then just wet the exposed portion of the bar and rub into your stains....it works realy well for us and lasts a LONG time! Other bar soap would probably work too but I've only tried the one.

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  5. I always use homemade laundry powder. Only because that's the only thing I've tried so far. I like the idea of using the homemade liquid version, but my father is a bit nervous about me heating up/melting soap on the stovetop, so I haven't tried it yet. I know that you said the liquid version lasted longer. Did you ever do a cost comparison between how much it cost you to make the liquid version versus the powder version? What recipes did you use for each? That would be interesting to know :) Love and hugs from the ocean shores of California, Heather :)

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  6. I've never tried homemade laundry soap because I'm afraid of destroying my new fancy high efficiency washer... the manual sort of made it sound like the thing would explode if you used anything but official HE detergent. Anybody know anything about this?

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    1. I have an HE machine and I haven't had any problems with using homemade soap. I use the liquid and my clothes come out just as clean as they did with the HE detergent. I use the recipe in the Duggar's book. They have HE machines, so I figured if it worked in their washer I should be safe. :)

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  7. I've only done liquid and I make 10 gallons at a time. I need to make it about every 2 weeks, but I can usually quick do it while I am juggling something else. I agree with the Fells Naptha--I think it works better than using Ivory Soap.

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