Save hundreds of dollars per year using these laundry soap recipes and ideas!

Liquid Laundry Soap

1 cup liquid castile soap
1/3 cup salt
1 cup dissolved borax or baking soda
1 cup vinegar
40 drops grapefruit seed extract
4 crushed papaya enzymes

Bring 12 cups of water to a boil. Add salt and soda/borax to and stir constantly until well dissolved. Allow to cool.Fill a gallon jug or recycled detergent bottle with salt mix. Add remaining ingredients. Add essential oils if desired. Makes about 1 gallon of laundry soap. Use 1 cup or 2 capfuls per load.

Liquid Laundry Detergent

2 bars Ivory soap
1/4 cup baking soda
1 cup borax
12 cups water
essential oils

Bring 12 cups of water to a boil. Grate 2 bars ivory soap. Add borax, baking soda and grated soap flakes to hot water and stir constantly until soap is well dissolved and thick. Add essential oils if desired. Makes about 1 gallon of laundry detergent.

Laundry Gel

1 bar of soap
1 cup washing soda
1/2 cup borax
5 gallon bucket with a lid
3 gallons of water (rain water is best because it is "soft" water)

Bring 12 cups of water to a boil. Grate or chunk up bar of soap. Add borax, baking soda and grated soap flakes to hot water and stir constantly until soap is well dissolved and thick. Add essential oils if desired. Makes about 3 gallons of laundry gel.

1/2 bar of grated ivory soap
1/2 cup of washing soda
1/4 cup borax
1 gallon water

I recycled an empty 1 gallon laundry soap bottle, after all they are designed for this. I washed it out. then filled it up with clean water. I then put the pre-measured 1 gallon of water in my spaghetti pan and brought it to a boil. Then I added the shaved soap. After a few minutes, it started to dissolve so I stirred it. After it was nearly dissolved I added the borax and washing soda. I stirred that around awhile and let it simmer about 10 minutes until everything was well dissolved. liquid will turn clear when done. Then I let the mixture cool and the I put it back into the recycled laundry soap bottle. And let it continue cooling over night.

Note: Instead of using toxic and irritating softening sheets in the dryer, add 10 drops of lavender, lemon, melaleuca, bergamot, to a dampened washcloth. The oils will not reduce static cling but they will add a lovely fragrance to the clothes.

White Vinegar. Eliminate laundry soap residue by adding 1 cup of white vinegar to the washer's final rinse. Vinegar is too mild to harm fabrics but strong enough to dissolve alkalies in laundry soaps and detergents. Vinegar also breaks down uric acid, so adding 1 cup vinegar to the rinse water isespecially good for babies' clothes. To remove smoky odor from clothes, fill your bathtub with hot water. Add 1 cup white vinegar. Hang garments above the steaming bath water. To get wool and cotton blankets soft and fluffy as new, add 2 cups white vinegar to a full tub of rinse water. DO NOT USE VINEGAR IF YOU ADD CHLORINE BLEACH TO YOUR RINSE WATER. IT WILL PRODUCE HARMFUL VAPORS.

Baking Soda. 1/4 to 1/2 cup baking soda per wash load makes clothes feel soft and smell fresh. You can cut the amount of chlorine bleach used in your wash by half when you add 1/2 cup baking soda to top loading machines or 1/4 cup to front loaders.

Hydrogen Peroxide. A safer-than-bleach alternative

Cornstarch. For homemade laundry starch, dissolve 1 tablespoon cornstarch in 1 pint cold water. Place in a spray bottle. Shake before using. Clearly label the contents of the spray bottle.

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