Life as a Spectator Sport

I needed another batch of laundry soap, so I thought I'd take pictures of the process. The proportions of each specific material are listed on the Family Homestead site, and as Crystal has asked for them not to be copied anywhere else, I'm only providing a link. But I think she wouldn't mind pictures of the process, as long as the actual recipe isn't posted. She also has a pictorial step-by-step description on her site. I've tried to include some small details that aren't mentioned on her site.

Step 1 - Grate your soap into a bowl or pan. I grate it right into the pan where it will be dissolved in water. I'm using Fels Naptha soap, because I had it on hand and I've run out of my own soap. But you can use any plain soap (not a "beauty bar" -- you want something that is nothing but soap).

I use the large holes on this grater, by the way. It isn't necessary to make soap powder, just to get small enough shreds that they will dissolve in a reasonable amount of time when you heat them.


Step 2 - Add your water, and heat until the grated soap is completely dissolved. The next step will be to add washing soda and borax, but you can still see bits of floating soap shreds in this picture, so it is not sufficiently dissolved.


These are the two most common brands of borax and washing soda. Borax seems to be available in nearly all supermarkets. I've had less success finding washing soda, but the Kroger chain carries it.


Step 3 - After you stir in the borax and washing soda, you'll have a thickened, gel-like liquid. Now you'll combine this in a two-gallon bucket (larger if you have a larger one, but not smaller) with the amount of water given in Crystal's recipe.


And here is the finished product, ready to set overnight before use. I have trouble getting the full amount of water into a two-gallon bucket, so my mixture tends to be about a cup short. Another cup would fit, but getting the top off without sloshing liquid soap all over the place is a problem with the bucket so full. If I had a three-gallon bucket, I'd use that. If you have room to store a five-gallon bucket, you might make a double batch.

One caution--if you don't stir the initial shredded-soap-and-water solution well enough, you'll find a thick layer of cooling soap on the bottom of the saucepan after you pour the solution into the bucket. I've found that stirring very well as I pour it helps to prevent that. If you do find a film of soap in the pan, just add a small amount of very hot water, stir until it dissolves again, and pour that into the bucket.

It isn't absolutely necessary to let this sit for 24 hours before using it, but it will thicken up somewhat. Crystal describes it as a watery gel, like egg noodle soup. Mine tends to be fairly thick right from the start, and I have sometimes used it as soon as I mixed it up.

If you regularly have very heavily soiled items to wash, you can add extra borax and/or washing soda to the washing machine or hand-wash tub. I've found that soaking soiled clothing before washing it goes a long way toward getting items clean without needing to add anything extra at laundry time. Clarence's clothing goes in a five-gallon bucket with a 1/4 cup of the liquid soap and a couple of tablespoons of tea tree oil. This actually gets his things cleaner than when I was using hot water in the washing machine.

Most of our laundry is done by hand, but I carry a jug of this in an old detergent bottle when we go out of town, and have used it successfully in commercial machines. It doesn't suds much, so it should be fine in the HE front-loading machines as well.

Labels: baking soda, borax, laundry soap

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RSS Feed PERSONAL Send email to liz at life-as-a-spectator-sport.com Home I'm a mother, grandmother, a computer professional, Democrat, Christian. I welcome politely worded comments and email, my spam filter throws the rest away, so don't bother to flame me WHY 'LIFE AS A SPECTATOR SPORT' "If you're lucky not to live in the gutters of a slum, but still can't afford to take vacations in the Alps, you're part of that enormous middle class who lives life through the medium of the television, further separated from "real" life by air conditioner, by automobile, by dishwasher, microwave and ice-in-the-door refrigerator, by automatic washer and dryer, and all the other appliances and conveniences that make it possible for America to live life at second hand. I'm not sure why Americans decided that televised drama was better than the real thing, that cardboard microwave food containers were an adequate substitute for real dishes, and their contents for real food, or that cooking, dishwashing and face-to-face conversation wasn't worth the effort and time it required. Someone fed this nation a plastic crate of out-of-season tomatoes and told us it was life and we took them at their word, and we're so much the poorer for it that it's hard to know where to start to list the shortcomings." I wrote this a couple of years ago, but I have to admit it's much less amusing than I thought it would be to see the artifical construct falling apart. THE NON-ELECTRIC HOME Cleaning, 1 Cleaning, 2 Cleaning, 3 KNITTING BLOGS Extravayarnza Knitting Heretic Mind of Winter Pie Knits Persistent Illusion See Eunny Knit The Keyboard Biologist Taleweaver's Ramblings TECHnitting Wendy Knits FINISHED PROJECTS -------FINISHED IN 2006------- Peruvian Cap Tutti-Frutti Socks Shelley's Socks Carol's Socks -------FINISHED IN 2007------- Chain Link Socks Baby Surprise Jacket Valerie & Friend Baby Bonnet Rainbow Baby Socks Girls Pixie Hood Mitred Square Heart Red & White Socks Coffee Cup Pot Holder Nubbins Dishcloth Garterlac Dishcloth Suede Booties Kate's Socks Norwegian Sweet Baby Cap Half Thumbless Mittens Red Mittens for Akkol -------FINISHED IN 2008------- SELF-RELIANCE AND THE FUTURE -- Blogs and websites -- Causubon's Book Club Orlov Food Storage Made Easy From the Wilderness In the Wake Listening to Katrina Survival Topics The Modern Homestead The Oil Drum Notes from a Hillside Farm -- Mailing Lists -- 12vdc Power Living on the Land Rainwater Refrigeration Alternatives Old Ways of Living POLITICAL BLOGS and SITES The political sites have moved BOOKS I'M READING How to Grow More Vegetables, etc. Small Scale Grain Raising ARCHIVES February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 August 2008 July 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 April 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 November 2006 October 2006 September 2006 August 2006 July 2006 June 2006 May 2006 April 2006 March 2006 February 2006 January 2006 December 2005 November 2005 October 2005 September 2005 August 2005 July 2005 June 2005 May 2005 April 2005 March 2005 February 2005 January 2005 December 2004 November 2004 October 2004 September 2004 August 2004 July 2004 June 2004 May 2004 April 2004 March 2004 February 2004 January 2004 December 2003 November 2003 October 2003 September 2003 August 2003 July 2003 June 2003 May 2003 April 2003 March 2003 February 2003 January 2003 December 2002 November 2002 October 2002 September 2002 August 2002 July 2002 June 2002 May 2002 April 2002 March 2002 February 2002