Martha in the making

One Saturday morning my mom came over and said she was talking to a friend of hers who makes her own laundry and dishwasher soaps and said it really wasn’t that difficult so mom and I decided we were going to make a batch, my mom had no idea that I had been going back and forth on the topic and it was a shock to me that she had any interest at all in taking on the task.  The thought was a bit daunting to me, I mean really who makes these products when you can just run to the store and grab one off the shelf.  I figured that I would let her make a batch and see how it turned out, she bought all the needed ingredients and I thought if it went well for her that I would just use some of her extra ingredients and start my own batch.  Mom was successful and that pretty much solidified my decision to make my own.  So on Sunday I ran over to moms and grabbed the box that contained the ingredients and utensils need to begin the journey.  Both soaps turned out to be a complete success!

 The laundry soap gets the clothes beautifully clean with a simple scent from the Fels Naptha, which I love it is a very light aroma that you can barely smell on the clothes, keep in mind that if you enjoy the scented laundry soap you can add in 5-7 drops of any essential oil scent that you like, but for our house I do everything scent free or as close as I can get to scent free.  We found the Fels Naptha at our local Wal-Mart in the bar soap isle, you will also use Borax, Arm and Hammer Washing Soda and water really that is all!! You will grate 1/3 of the bar of the Fels Naptha and add it to a sauce pan with water 2C of water, stir continuously over med heat until the soap has dissolved and melted. Add ½ C. of Borax and ½ C. of Arm and Hammer Washing Soda, stir until dissolved and then add 2 more cups of water and then another 6C. of water remove from heat and place in your container, we bought 1 gallon containers at Wal-Mart, using a funnel transfer the made soap into your container.  Leave the lid off for 24hrs, you will notice that the soap gels, if you give your container a good shake it will break up if it is too gelled for your liking you can always add more water to the soap, this may require pouring some of the soap out of the container into another to make room for the water you are going to add.  Once the 24hrs have elapsed you are good to use the soap, you will only use ¼ C per load.  One more little note about the Fels Naptha,it is a miracle worker in getting stains out of clothes and fabrics, just dampen the stain and rub the bar of the Fels over it a few times and let is set for just a bit, throw it in the washer and you are good. Even the hardest stains come out, Brodie had a bloody nose at moms and of course it was on a white pillow case and she used the Fels on it and it came right out even after sitting all day without any attention. 

The dishwasher soap was the easiest to make and works great in the washer.  It is all dry ingredients mixed together in and left to sit for three days uncovered to come together, it does require a few minutes of attention over those three days but just enough time out of your day to stir it up, do this twice a day and you are set.  Just a tid bit of information in regards to the dishwasher soap, while it is sitting out coming together over the three days it will get very hard and it may be a bit tough to break it up when you stir it but this is why it is so important to stir it during the days it sits out. Another possibility is to stir it three or four times a day if you feel like it was too hard to break up the first day.  Another bit of information, for an easy cheap alternative to the pricey chemically yucky blue stuff that you pay an arm and leg for you can use white vinegar as a spot free agent in the dishwasher, just pour it into the designated area in your washer that you normally would pour the other blue chemical and it will work just like the pricey stuff for a fraction of the price!!