What a day yesterday! You would have been in stitches if you could have watched this process. Today, I am typing with withered up fingers from the soap, but boy, are they clean fingers!!!!
Lea, from Farmhouse Blessings!, has posted a wonderful entry on her blog with instructions on how to make this CHEAP, wonderful laundry soap. The word "CHEAP" was the seller for me, as I hate spending all that money that just goes down the drain -- literally!
But. . .and here's where I ALWAYS run into problems. . . I HAD to make it better, and bigger, and . . . .
I had seen a recipe for a DRY version of CHEAP laundry soap over on Mary Jane's Farm Forum, so had some of those ingredients on hand, too.
Got my HUGE pot out and decided, there's plenty of room in here for a double batch, so proceeded with that. Got my cauldron boiling, shaved my bars of soap, and dumped that in. Started stirring it up, and it was melting and mixing in nice. Good so far.
Then. . . . . I dumped in the baking soda, the borax. . . . .and since I had it on hand, why not add the washing soda, too? That stuff started foaming up, bubbling like crazy, right to the top of the pot! I pulled that sucker off the eye and started whisking it down as I wondered if my whole house would soon be full of bubbles!!!!!
I managed to get it under control, with much addoo, and stirred and whisked all day and evening. My house smelled wonderful, my stove is spotless from wiping up soap all day, my sink is spotless, and my hands and nails are cleaner than they have ever been.
I poured this brew into a large cat litter container, and I did my first load of laundry today. It is cleaner and fresher than I've had in a long, long time. I have enough for about 64 load of wash (that's a double recipe) and it cost be about $3.00 to make (and I still have dry stuff left to make more). I'm a happy (and clean) camper!
9 comments:
Oh my Lordy, Cora- I wished I could have seen that! LOL You are something else!
I'm going to have to give this a try!
:)
Thank you so much for dropping by, and for the sweet comments.
I always enjoy visiting with you at your blog.
Blessings,
Pam
Cora, you are a delight! Hope you were wearing your apron!
Hugs,
Lea
How funny Cora, this made me laugh and to think of the old Lucy episode, where Ricky and Fred make rice. They put in too much and the rice overflows all over the kitchen. What a hoot! So delightful! blessings, Kathleen
Your soapmaking experience sounds like an "I Love Lucy" episode. All you needed was an Ethel beside you!
I am intrigued, though. I'm off to check out that recipe. I'm always about saving money. :-)
Now you are in to laundry soap making! Boy you do it all! :)
*lol* I thought the same thing..... 'hey, why not add some washing soda'.... And exactly as you described, it started foaming like a mad dog!!
Fortunately I only made half of the original recipe, so with 8 cups of water.. so it was more or less manageable! ;)
Greetings from the netherlands!
Cora,
I had to laugh when I read this post.I make my own laundry soap too.Lea got the idea after reading my post last week on homemade laundry soap.The reason for my laughter is because a few months ago I tried making a batch of laundry soap with baking soda for the first time.I didn`t follow the directions which had said to first melt the soap in the boiling water then pour into a bucket and add the baking soda and borax.I though I would mix it all up on the stove.I guess I forgot that baking soda will bubble!It went all over.I had the smell of burnt soap in the house for a long time!!Wonder why I never got the greatest grades in science class?So,you are not alone in this!
My recipe says to use washing soda, not baking soda. Guess it doesn't matter. I've made it several times, but I used Zote, instead of Fels Naptha, and I really don't care for the odor. I use it anyway. Next time I'll try a different soap. It does make one feel "virtuous" making homemade detergent though.
Post a Comment