DIY Laundry Soap 20 cents a gallon

transcription of “DIY Laundry Soap 20 cents a gallon” video..by The Urban Farming Guys..

Hey, we are gonna introduce you to Candy, one of the urban farming guys & my lovely wife. Candy, what are we doing today? We need to do laundry, but first we need to make some laundry soap. We made a batch about eight months ago, made ten gallons, & we’re about to run out. So, we’re gonna show you how to make it with three basic ingredients you can find in any grocery store. It costs about $2 to make & it works great.

Alright, & where did you find this recipe? Well, a friend of ours went to go visit her friend in OK..He does a lot of homesteading & farming down there. So, they made a batch. She came home all excited & brought us a gallon to try. So, we used it, used it as a pre-treater, we used it just like regular laundry soap, it works great…& then, she showed me how to make ten gallons & we’ve been using that for the last eight months. Now, we’re gonna show you how to make ten gallons.

Here is everything that you’ll need to make your own laundry soap:

Borax

Washing Soda (not baking soda)

Bar Soap (Fels-Naptha, Ivory, plain bar soap)

Cheese Grader

Pot (to melt the soap in with water)

5-gallon bucket

First thing, you’re gonna take your bar of soap & your cheese grader & just grade it down. Skin your knuckle.. I already sliced my fingernail off earlier. When you’re done grading, this is what you get. We’re gonna take this over to the stove & melt it down. Before you melt it down, you do wanna add some water, probably about a quart..The exact amount doesn’t really matter cuz we’re gonna add more water later.

So, you’re gonna want to put in the water, & then stir continuously over medium low heat until all these little grates are dissolved. Here we are, it’s completely dissolved; it took about 10-15 minutes. Now, we’re ready to add all the ingredients. Take your 5-gallon bucket & fill it about half full with hot water. Add your melted bar soap. Add half a cup of the washing soda & a full cup of the Borax..Then, stir until all the ingredients are dissolved. & once they’re dissolved, you’re gonna wanna fill the bucket all the way full with hot water. Then, cover it. If you don’t have a lid, you can use plastic wrap or something to cover it & then let it sit over night.

So, here we are, 24 hours later. We put this out on the porch for overnight & I’m gonna take our plastic off. & if you look & see, it kinda gels up like this…& what you wanna do before we divide it, because we want this to be 10 gallons ultimately, is really kinda break up these little pieces. Cuz when you go to pour it, they’ll blob out in big chunks. Okay, so I’ve broken up the gel pieces as much as I can..pretty smooth consistency now..There’s little flakes, but that’s ok. We’re just gonna take this 5-gallon bucket & divide it evenly half & half to another 5-gallon bucket. So, almost, just gonna do it til they’re both at the same level. That looks about right. Then, we’re gonna take some really hot water & fill them both up. It will suds a little bit. Okay. Then, we’re gonna take these & pour them into whatever containers you have that you wanna keep them in. We use some tea containers, we have some old laundry detergent containers, milk containers, juice containers. We use whatever we can cuz this is a lot of soap. So, I’m gonna get a funnel & I’ll show you how we can pour it in.

So, now we’re just gonna, while it’s really separated, you’re gonna take it & just fill your containers. This can be a little messy, is why we do it on the porch. But, then, when we’re done, we just spray down the porch & we have a nice, clean one. So, I poured it all into the jugs, & this is our batch..So, for $2, we made enough laundry soap, that’s lasted our family of five working on the farm over eight months worth of laundry. & each one of these, as you know, at the store can cost anywhere from $3-8, depending on the brand you buy..So, you do the math.

Now, we’re ready to do some laundry. This is what you end up with. You’re gonna use one cup per load. & it will have a tendency to separate a little bit as it settles, so just shake it before you use it. & you can use it as a pre-treater; works just great, we love it. Enjoy.