Makes 5 gals of liquid laundry soap
2 cups of Washing Soda
1 cup of Borax
1 cup of Baking Soda
1 cup of pure Soap Flakes or a grated soap bar like Fels-Naptha or Zote
1/4 cup sodium chloride (table salt)
6 cups of hot water
Additional warm water as needed to top up to 5 gal
You will also need:
5 gal bucket
Large pot for melting and dissolving the ingredients
Large stirring spoon or whisk
Dry measuring cup
Box grater (unless you are using soap flakes or liquid castille soap)
Directions:
Use a dry measuring cup for all dry ingredients.
- Using a box grater, grate the soap bar of your choice until you have 1 cup of soap flakes.You can also buy soap flakes (no need for grating) or pure castille liquid soap as alternatives.
- Add your soap flakes to a large pot. Add 6 cups of water initially to your soap flakes. Using medium heat, keep stirring until the soap flakes have been fully dissolved.
- Add your remaining dry ingredients to the soap/water mixture in your large pot heating on the stove: washing soda, borax, baking soda, and salt. Stir thoroughly until everything has dissolved and is integrated.
- Transfer the warm and dissolved ingredients to an empty, dry, clean 5 gallon bucket and top up with the remaining hot water until it almost reaches the top. Stir thoroughly. Allow to cool overnight. The mixture will thicken and gel.
- For laundry HE (“High Efficiency”) machines add about 1/2 cup of the liquid directly to the laundry tub, for older machines you can add up to 1 cup depending on the size of the laundry and the amount of dirt and grime to be removed.
- For very hard water areas, you can add more Borax to the mixture. This formulation is for a hard water area. If you are in an already naturally occurring soft water area, you may wish to reduce or eliminate all together the Borax and table salt, although it remains helpful for odor control and its anti-fungal properties.