Laundry Detergent
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There a few different variations you can use. They all work well, it's just a matter of preference.
All three recipes are completely safe for your military clothing and hunting clothing as the ingredients used do not contain brighteners in them. It is also safe for cloth diapers. They also work great in all water temps and are safe for HE washers.
RECIPE #1
Fels Naptha Concentrated Liquid Detergent
Ingredients:
2 bars Fels Naptha
2 cups 20 Mule Team Borax
2 cups Arm & Hammer Washing Soda
1/2 cup original blue Dawn dish soap (optional but fights grease better)
6 cups of hot waterDirections:
Put 6 cups of water on to heat. Add grated Fels Naptha. Keep stirring until the soap is completely melted. Don’t let this boil or you’ll have soap all over the place.
When the soap has melted turn off the heat and add the Borax and the Washing Soda . The powders will dissolve into the liquid.Pour the liquid equally into 4 quart jars. Now, add just enough water to bring the contents up to the “shoulders” of the jar. This will leave about 1 ½ inches of head-space. Put lids on the jars and let them sit overnight (about 8 hours).
The soap in the jars will separate while it is standing. This is OK. There will be firm soap on top and kind of gel-like soap on the bottom. Sometimes "crystals" form at the bottom of the jar, don't worry.Next, spoon out all of this into your blender. If there are crystals, I use HOT water and stir a bit. I add this to the blender too.
Start on the lowest speed of your blender or mixer and increase the speed gradually. Your result will be something that looks like really thick, pale yellow whipped cream. You may need to scrape the sides down with a spatula a few times to get it all the way blended.
Pour/spoon the now blended soap back into the quart jar(s). Your jar(s) will be all the way full now and you may even have a little more for another jar. Pop a lid onto the jar(s) and your soap will keep indefinitely. It gets a little firmer in the jar when it sits, but it stays spoon-able.
Use 1 - 2 Tablespoons per lrg .load. Makes 256 loads (1 T. ) or 128 loads (2 T. )
Also smear a little of this paste on stains then wash
RECIPE #2
Regular Fels Naptha Liquid Detergent
Ingredients:
Washing Soda
Borax
Fels Naptha soap bar
Dawn dish soap (the cheap not concentrate bottle works perfect)You'll also need these items:
Cheese Grater
Medium Saucepan
5 gallon bucket
Long stir-stick to reach bottom of bucketDirections:
Heat 4 cups water in saucepan. Grate 1 bar Fels Naptha Soap and add to the water. Stirring until completely melted.Fill 5 gallon bucket half full with HOT tap water. Dissolve 1 cup Borax, 1 cup Washing Soda in bucket. Then add melted Fels Naptha. Stir well, fill bucket rest of the way with water. Leave some room for stirring. Let sit overnight.
The soap will coagulate heavily. Next day stir, stir, stir...or as I do just get in there with both hands and break it all up (it's much faster this way. Add 1/4 cup blue dawn, mix well.
Divide into smaller pour-able containers, mixing 50% soap and 50% water. This works great for softened water, if you don't have soft water then full strength will work better.
1/2 cup laundry soap for top loaders and 1/4 cup for front loaders. This soap doesn't lather up much but it is doing it's job!
RECIPE #3
Powdered Laundry Soap
2 cups Fels Naptha Soap (finely grated) – you can also use ivory soap finely grated instead of the Fels Naptha soap if you want.
1 cup Washing Soda
1 cup BoraxMix well and store in an airtight plastic container.
Use 1 Tablespoon for reg load and used 2 tablespoons for larger loads or dirtier items. Make sure to add to washer before clothing so that it mixes with water before adding clothes.
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I recently made a batch of Recipe #3 laundry soap using a grated Zote bar instead of Fels Naptha and I have to say I'm impressed. Fels Naptha always faded our clothes because it lacks UV brighteners in it, which work to preserve color. Zote bar has UV brighteners in it and it works fabulously.
I bought my Zote off Amazon: http://amzn.to/2mqLD8n
I ended up mixing 1 grated bar of Zote, 1 cup Washing Soda, 1 cup Borax and 1 cup BIZ. I add 2-4 tablespoons of the power to the bottom of the washer before filling. Works pretty fabulously.
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@gash said:
I recently made a batch of Recipe #3 laundry soap using a grated Zote bar instead of Fels Naptha and I have to say I'm impressed. Fels Naptha always faded our clothes because it lacks UV brighteners in it, which work to preserve color. Zote bar has UV brighteners in it and it works fabulously.
I bought my Zote off Amazon: http://amzn.to/2mqLD8n
I ended up mixing 1 grated bar of Zote, 1 cup Washing Soda, 1 cup Borax and 1 cup BIZ. I add 2-4 tablespoons of the power to the bottom of the washer before filling. Works pretty fabulously.
This last batch of soap that I've been using for over a month now is hands down my favorite out of all of them. As mentioned before Fels Naptha and also castille soa[ fades clothes (great for hunting clothes because it doesn't have the UV brighteners in it), not so great when you want to look presentable. This zote mix also gets out stuff set in stains. I've seen some kids' clothing come out of the wash looking newer, old set in stains that I had given up hope on lifted and the clothes upgraded from play to nice again. It's pennies per load! I'd highly suggest you give it a whirl!
