Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Soaping

Yesterday I took an old "fake" wood book shelf that I got from wal-mart for $10 and painted it. Today I'm lining the back with some of those adhesive cabinent liners. I think it looks pretty good, so far.

I also made soap yesterday morning. I made 2 separate batches, and usually give one to a friend. She said I should post it on-line since it smells so good, AND (bonus) it's cheap!

What You Need:
-Grater
-1/3 bar of soap
-1/2 cup Washing Soda (not baking soda. Yes, there is a difference)
-1/2 cup Borax
-Water, a lot of it
-Bucket (maybe 2 gallon from dollar store)


Grate the bar of soap down. Pour it into a saucepan with 6 cups of water. Cook until all the soap melts. Add your washing soda and borax. Stir until it's dissolved, then remove from heat. Take 4 cups of hot water and pour it into your bucket. Add your soap mixture and stir.

Add just under 1 1/2 gallons of room temperature water (approximately 22 cups of water if you want to count) and stir some more.

If you want to add a scent, now is a good time to do it. Add 1 ounce or less of whatever essential oil fragrance you like.

Let it sit for 24 hours, and it will have a thin gel consistency. Use 1 cup for your loads.

Laundry Soap = 64 loads
Batch Cost = .80 cents
P/ Load Average = .01 cents

Storage Options:
I keep mine in a bucket I got from Dollar General. It came with no lid, so I cover it in Plastic Wrap. I had a measuring cup set that was destroyed, and luckily all the was left was the 1 cup, so I sewed a strap and have that attached to the side of the bucket to do my measurements.

1 comment:

  1. Love it! Have just had my first child this year and have now really started to be come more of a hands on person eg baking, natural products etc. Thanks for the great tips and going to try and make some soap...
    Cheers Sam

    ReplyDelete