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Homemade Laundry Detergent Math Challenge & Recipe With Pics
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Author:  LadyKate [ Sat Jan 01, 2011 7:39 pm ]
Post subject:  Homemade Laundry Detergent Math Challenge & Recipe With Pics
...I made some. It's pretty rockin. Cleans great, smells *clean* with no scent and was loads of fun to make. (If you want to add scent, fill an old detergent bottle with your finished product and add some essential oil of your choice. I tried that with some "sea island cotton" oil from B&BW and it smells awesome...you can make each bottle a different scent if you like.)

For all you math minded people: 1 bar of Fels-Naptha soap was $1.29, 4lbs of Borax was $3.99, and 3lbs of Washing Soda was $2.99. I used one cup of washing soda and half a cup of Borax and a whole bar of Fels-Naptha to make 5 gallons of detergent....you use one cup of detergent per load.

For anyone who is interested, here is the step-by-step I made with pictures:
Spoiler:
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YOU WILL NEED: A 5 gallon bucket, 1/2 cup of borax, 1 cup of washing soda, 1 bar of Fels-Naptha, essential oil (optional), a cooking pot, a cheese grater, and hot water.


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Fels-Naptha soap. You can use any kind of soap but from everything I've read, this is the best kind and its pretty cheap...I got all of the ingredients at Kroger by the way.


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Step One: Grate the soap.


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Step Two: Put it on the stove. (Don't turn it on yet until you see the next picture, hahaha!)


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Step Three: Add about 5 cups of hot water to the soap and heat on medium, stirring constantly/occasionally/whatever. It took about 20-30 minutes for the soap to melt.


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This is what it looks like while its "cooking."


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This is what it looks like when it is finished cooking. Make sure the soap has melted all the way or the final product will not gel.


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Step Four: Pour the melted soap/hot water mixture into your 5 gallon bucket.


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Step 5: Add one cup of washing soda and stir.

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Step 6: Add one half cup of Borax and stir.


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Hooray we are stirring soap!


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Step 7: Add hot water until the bucket is full. Stir.


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This is what it looks like when its all mixed up...there is a layer of suds on the top.


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I scooped away some of the suds so you can see what it looks like.


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Step 8: Put a lid on the bucket and let the mixture sit overnight. It should gel by morning. You can put some in an empty detergent bottle and add 3 to 4 drops of an essential oil for fragrance if you like.
Use one cup of detergent for each load of laundry.
Author:  LadyKate [ Sat Jan 01, 2011 8:50 pm ]
Post subject: 
Yeah...on the math thing I was kinda hoping that someone would jump in and do the math for me about how much that averaged out per load, hahaha! :)
I'm so mathematically challenged!
Author:  Ulfynn [ Sat Jan 01, 2011 8:59 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Homemade Laundry Detergent Math Challenge & Recipe With
I'm curious how this experiment came about? :)

Math: the amounts of Borax and Washing Soda you said you used are given in volume (cups or fractions thereof), instead weight as you show in how much you spent on the full boxes of product. How many cups in the full boxes of Borax and Wash Soda?
Author:  Corolinth [ Sat Jan 01, 2011 9:08 pm ]
Post subject: 
That's because you haven't exactly provided the information someone would need. Incidentally, I can only find washing soda sold in 55oz quantities, which is actually a bit more than three pounds. (Yes, that makes a difference in price per load).
Author:  Corolinth [ Sat Jan 01, 2011 9:33 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Homemade Laundry Detergent Math Challenge & Recipe With
Dry washing soda has a mass density of 2.54g/mL
Borax has a mass density of 1.73g/mL

1 U.S. gallon = 16 U.S. customary cups
1 U.S. customary cup = 237mL
1lb = 453.5924g

You've used 410.01g of Borax and 601.98g of washing soda. You've made yourself five gallons of laundry detergent for $3.51. At one cup a load, you're coming out to four cents to do a load of laundry (actually, closer to 4.5 cents per load). This does not account for the water or the gas/electricity to run your stove while you cook it. Considering searches for washing soda and Borax are showing that they're sold in 55oz and 76oz packages respectively (3.5lb and 4.75lb packages), you might actually be running under four cents per load.
Author:  LadyKate [ Sun Jan 02, 2011 1:39 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Homemade Laundry Detergent Math Challenge & Recipe With
Ulfynn wrote:
I'm curious how this experiment came about? :)


I was on one of my message boards with a bunch of homemakers and someone was talking about doing it and one thing led to another and I decided to try it. It's pretty cool! :)

Coro, thanks for the math! I checked under the sink and the Washing Soda is 55oz and the Borax is 76oz. The cheapest store bought stuff around here is about $5 and it says it does 75 loads so thats like what 6 cents or so per load? But the homemade stuff is better...and cheaper...and more fun. :D
Author:  Jhorra [ Sun Jan 02, 2011 10:45 am ]
Post subject: 
It seems like you're not really making laundry soap if your first ingredient is laundry soap. What's the original bar of soap made out of, how hard is it to make that?
Author:  LadyKate [ Sun Jan 02, 2011 2:16 pm ]
Post subject:  Re:
Jhorra wrote:
It seems like you're not really making laundry soap if your first ingredient is laundry soap. What's the original bar of soap made out of, how hard is it to make that?


Is that a challenge? Because there are plenty of recipes for that as well. Guess I will need to go and find one....
Author:  Jhorra [ Sun Jan 02, 2011 3:36 pm ]
Post subject: 
No, I like the idea of what you're doing, I just think you could take it a step further.
Author:  Jhorra [ Sun Jan 02, 2011 3:49 pm ]
Post subject: 
Actually to clarify further, I really like the idea, and have half a mind to try it myself. I just wish it could be done from an earlier starting point. Can it be easily made from mostly natural ingredients. I didn't mean it in any way to put down what you were doing.
Author:  Corolinth [ Sun Jan 02, 2011 3:50 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Homemade Laundry Detergent Math Challenge & Recipe With
LadyKate wrote:
Coro, thanks for the math! I checked under the sink and the Washing Soda is 55oz and the Borax is 76oz. The cheapest store bought stuff around here is about $5 and it says it does 75 loads so thats like what 6 cents or so per load? But the homemade stuff is better...and cheaper...and more fun. :D
To be quite honest, you're probably only getting 75 loads out of your batch of homemade detergent, rather than the 80 loads I used to calculate how much you're spending to do laundry. A cup isn't exactly a precise unit of measure. You also acquired your Borax and washing soda for about half of the best prices that turned up on Google.
Author:  Lex Luthor [ Mon Jan 03, 2011 12:47 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Homemade Laundry Detergent Math Challenge & Recipe With
Corolinth wrote:
Dry washing soda has a mass density of 2.54g/mL
Borax has a mass density of 1.73g/mL


If they have different chemical formulas, then one might be more effective than the other.
Author:  LadyKate [ Mon Jan 03, 2011 9:33 am ]
Post subject: 
Jhorra, this is the recipe (more or less) that everyone that I've heard of uses. (Including the famous Duggar family.)
I do have friends that use their own homemade bar soap instead of the Fels-Naptha, but as far as using all natural ingredients (ie no borax or washing soda) I haven't heard of anyone doing that. I'm quite certain you could, though, provided you were willing to do a lot of work and saving money wasn't your motivation for doing it.
Coro, I'm sure if I ordered the ingredients online I could get them cheaper, but after you pay for shipping, wouldn't it really be the same thing?
Author:  FarSky [ Mon Jan 03, 2011 9:46 am ]
Post subject: 
First off, that's cool, LK.

Secondly, I think Coro was saying you got your ingredients for less than he could find online.
Author:  LadyKate [ Mon Jan 03, 2011 9:52 am ]
Post subject:  Re:
FarSky wrote:
First off, that's cool, LK.

Secondly, I think Coro was saying you got your ingredients for less than he could find online.


Heh. I read that wrong...thanks. :)
Author:  Colphax [ Mon Jan 03, 2011 12:07 pm ]
Post subject:  Re:
LadyKate wrote:
Jhorra, this is the recipe (more or less) that everyone that I've heard of uses. (Including the famous Duggar family.)
I do have friends that use their own homemade bar soap instead of the Fels-Naptha, but as far as using all natural ingredients (ie no borax or washing soda) I haven't heard of anyone doing that. I'm quite certain you could, though, provided you were willing to do a lot of work and saving money wasn't your motivation for doing it.
Coro, I'm sure if I ordered the ingredients online I could get them cheaper, but after you pay for shipping, wouldn't it really be the same thing?

What exactly do you mean by "natural" ingredients? Borax is a naturally occurring mineral, while washing soda is a mineral compound left over in seasonal lake beds after the water evaporates (although it can also be created in a couple industrial lab processes), while soap is just saponified fat. The recipe as it stands is full of "natural" ingredients.
Author:  LadyKate [ Mon Jan 03, 2011 12:10 pm ]
Post subject: 
Well, I guess I mean stuff you can go out and get from your yard or something, hahaha! In my mind the only way that recipe could get any more basic is by making your own bars of soap to go with the borax and washing soda.
Author:  Corolinth [ Mon Jan 03, 2011 12:45 pm ]
Post subject: 
Yes. After some searching, I managed to find all of the ingredients for close to your listed prices, but you definitely got some stuff on sale. Do not expect future purchases to be quite so inexpensive.
Author:  LadyKate [ Mon Jan 03, 2011 12:49 pm ]
Post subject: 
Coro, I live in Mississippi. Everything is dirt cheap.
Author:  Jhorra [ Mon Jan 03, 2011 5:12 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Re:
Colphax wrote:
LadyKate wrote:
Jhorra, this is the recipe (more or less) that everyone that I've heard of uses. (Including the famous Duggar family.)
I do have friends that use their own homemade bar soap instead of the Fels-Naptha, but as far as using all natural ingredients (ie no borax or washing soda) I haven't heard of anyone doing that. I'm quite certain you could, though, provided you were willing to do a lot of work and saving money wasn't your motivation for doing it.
Coro, I'm sure if I ordered the ingredients online I could get them cheaper, but after you pay for shipping, wouldn't it really be the same thing?

What exactly do you mean by "natural" ingredients? Borax is a naturally occurring mineral, while washing soda is a mineral compound left over in seasonal lake beds after the water evaporates (although it can also be created in a couple industrial lab processes), while soap is just saponified fat. The recipe as it stands is full of "natural" ingredients.


Natural was probably the wrong word to use. Although looking back on it now, I couldn't tell you exactly what I meant when I wrote that.
Author:  LadyKate [ Mon Jan 03, 2011 5:23 pm ]
Post subject: 
Jhorra, admit it, you're a hippy and you want a plant that grows in your back yard that you can make soap out of AND smoke it.
Author:  NephyrS [ Mon Jan 03, 2011 5:37 pm ]
Post subject: 
Mmmm, hemp oil soap..... Not all that common, though. I think it's more common to make them from animal fats.

Not that you can't make them from vegetable oils, it's just a good image to hold in your mind: every time you use soap, you're basically just rubbing a huge piece of purified animal fat all over your skin.
Author:  Jhorra [ Mon Jan 03, 2011 6:14 pm ]
Post subject: 
Not a hippy, but I will admit the survivalists are starting to sound more and more convincing.
Author:  LadyKate [ Mon Jan 03, 2011 7:21 pm ]
Post subject: 
Good point. It is becoming more and more interesting learning how to make do with less and try to be more independent with food and stuff.
Author:  Jhorra [ Mon Jan 03, 2011 8:17 pm ]
Post subject: 
I'm thinking about getting some land, a few animals and maybe try to plant something. I don't want to go crazy about it, but to be able to provide some or all of my food seems like a good idea. making my own soap seems like a good thing to add to that.
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