Mennonite Girls Can Cook: Homemade Laundry Soap

About a year ago, my friend Stephanie mentioned she had found a recipe on the internet for homemade laundry soap.  We bought the supplies and we have been making our own laundry soap ever since.


The original recipe I tried came from the blog called "Old School Self Reliance 101." This recipe was good but I found one I like better. It came from the  "Mennonite Girls Can Cook" blog.  http://www.mennonitegirlscancook.ca/ 

If you have never tried making your own laundry soap, give it a try. It takes only about 10 minutes and is so easy! And for just a few dollars you will get 5 gallons of liquid laundry soap that can be used in both the regular washing machines and the new more energy effecient ones.

Homemade Laundry Soap

• 1 sunlight bar grated into a medium saucepan
• 4 cups hot tap water
• 1 cup Washing Soda
• 1/2 cup Borax
• 1 five gallon pail

1. Melt the Sunlight bar over medium heat . . stirring the whole time.
2. Dump it into a 5 gallon pail and add the Washing Soda and the Borax. Stir well.
3. Add hot water to the pail to come to a few inches to the top of the pail.
4. Stir well. ( I use a broom handle)
5. Let sit overnight and give it a good stir. It will jell a bit.
6. Fill empty laundry soap containers.
7. For my front load washer I use 1/4 cup.
8. For top load washers you will use closer to 1/2 cup.

You will need to experiment with your loads. Dirty loads need more detergent than light loads. I use it on my dirtiest farm laundry and on my delicates with equal satisfaction.

One of their readers said they added a half a small bottle of Dawn dish detergent to the recipe to help with grease spots. I did the same. I used the New Zealand Springs scent and it made the detergent smell wonderful.