Lessons of a Housewife: Laundry & Dish Soap

I'll start off by saying I did in fact pass my NCLEX and I am now a fully licensed nurse.

Anywhoo on to the purpose of this post.

My old dish soap was running low and I knew that I was going to be needing some more, so instead of purchasing it I made some! I had to drive 30 minutes away to get octagon soap for the ingredients so I bought ten bars. It only cost $7.90, and only half a bar is needed per gallon of dish soap which means I can now make 20 gallons of dish soap for under $8. That's pretty great considering how much we were paying for store bought.

This is how you do it.

You will need:

1 bar of octagon soap (shredded, and no you cannot use another brand)
1 tablespoon of super washing soda (it HAS to be super washing soda)
A sauce pot
1 long handled spoon
1.5 gallon container (I used a repurposed bleach container)
1 funnel

Directions:

1. Grate 1/2 bar of soap using a cheese grater into a medium sized sauce pot.

2. Add hot water about half way to the top.

3. Stir on medium heat until all the soap is melted. 

4. Add in 1 tbsp super washing soda and stir for 1 minute until it is completely dissolved. 

5. Pour your mixture carefully into your container using a funnel.

6. Add water about 3/4 full and shake well. 

Laundry Detergent:

You will need:

1 bar fels naptha soap grated

1 cup super washing soda

1/2 cup borax

1 sauce pot

1 long handled spoon

1 5 gallon container with a lid

1 clean laundry bottle

1 funnel 

Directions:

1. Grate a full bar of fels naptha soap into a sauce pot with a cheese grater. 

2. Add water until a little over half full stirring on medium heat until all the soap is melted.

3. Pour your soap into a 5 gallon container that is filled halfway with warm water, add borax and super washing soda. You may also add a 5 - 10 drops of essential oil if you wish, however I find this is very fragrant on its own.  Mix contents together and then top with cold water.

I use a 5 gallon trash can with a lid. Just be sure to label it!

Your mixture will become a gel when sitting.

4. Use a funnel and fill your clean laundry detergent bottle halfway with the laundry detergent and fill the rest with water. Label your container and shake well before each use. This will yield 10 gallons of laundry detergent.

Make sure to label it with directions on how much to use. The cap on my laundry container needs to be filled twice to meet the 5/8 requirement so I labeled the cap as well to make things easier. 

Happy cleaning!