About a year ago, though, Country Save started to be harder to find. Really - I had only ever been able to get it at London Drugs and then Target for that brief moment in time that they were in Canada. I decided I wanted to take a stab at making our own laundry soap. I figured if I knew what was in the soap, I'd feel much better about having it on her clothes.
Even better - she has never had a reaction to my soap. I don't know if I am saving much money over what I'd pay for commercially prepared soap, but I usually make such a large batch that it lasts forever so I MUST be saving money.
Ingredients:
Here's the washing soda box in case you have trouble finding it on the shelves like I usually do. I live in Canada so your packaging may vary (or not)
1 Bar Gentle Soap - I really love Dr Bonners because the almond hemp one smells so good in this mix, but recently tried this with Ivory bar soap and it still works great, costs less and is much easier to find in most stores.
1 Bar Sunlight Soap
2 Cups Washing Soda (You can substitute with baking soda if you can't find washing soda. It just makes it much more powdery. I've had to use this substitution a few times)
2 Cups Borax
Grate the bar soap. I prefer to do this in my food processor. It's just faster. You can use a hand grater if you want but a food processor will make your fingertips happier.
Put the regular blade back into the food processor and pulse it until the soap grates are tiny.
Important - before you add the powder, you want to make sure the little blocker is in the chute of your processor. unless you happen to like huffing Borax. GAG! Not recommended.
Add the Washing soda/Baking soda
and pulse until mixed then do the same with the borax.
Voila. Homemade laundry soap. I repeat the process until my laundry room jars are full and I always keep the supplies on hand so I can make more at a moments notice.
You only need 1-2 tablespoons per load. I used a coffee scoop in ours. It does not foam up like a commercial soap would, but my clothes are clean and don't smell like chemical fragrance. The lack of sudsing should mean it is fine for a front loader.
I got my apothocary jars at Wallyworld
A note about food processor cleanup:
As for concerns about using your food processor to do this and then being able to use it for food after...don't worry. But don't toss the parts into the dishwasher straight away. You will want to soak it and then hand wash it first. Then run it through the dishwasher to get any last soap residue off. If you put it into the dishwasher first - it will coat everything in wax-like soap residue. So take the extra step because you'll only end up handwashing everything that was in the dishwasher all over again if you don't.
