Powdered Laundry Soap Update

I have now used almost a complete batch of homemade laundry soap.  I have learned to get over my "no suds" phobia.  It helps that I really like the smell of the fels-naptha soap. It  smells so fresh.  I also put the soap bars in my towel drawer to make my towels smell good.  That is a something my grandmother used to do.  You could count on her hand towels, wash rags, and bath towels always smelling good.

I have been using the homemade soap more often, and saving my more expensive soap for heavily soiled loads.  I still don't think the homemade version cleans as well, however, my family tends to create some tough stains to get out. 

Since it is time to make another batch of soap, I decided to try using my food processor to grate the bar instead of doing it by hand.  It worked wonderfully.  I was able to grate 3 bars in less than 30 seconds. When grating the bar by hand it took me about 20 minutes for one bar.  It actually took longer to measure the ingredients, than it did to grate the soap.  I did have to crush the soap a little with my hands to make the pieces smaller. In case some of you did not see the recipe in the previous post here it is again if you would like to try it. 


Powdered Laundry Soap
1-Bar Fels-Naptha Soap (Finely grated)
1-1/2 cups baking soda
1-1/2 cups washing soda
1-1/2 cups borax

I have an extra large capacity washing machine so I use 1/4 cup per load.  You can adjust the amount according to your washing machine's capacity.   I also use vinegar in place of fabric softener for most of my loads.

Because I like the smell of the fels-naptha soap so well, my next project is going to be making liquid soap from a bar.  I just need to locate some glycerin to try the recipe I found.  Of course I will add essential oils for their antibacterial properties.  I am excited to see how it turns out.