Staying clean during the apocalypse has never been easier. If the zombies come, at least you will smell good and maybe even have something to barter with. Make 34 years worth of laundry soap for just pennies!
Supplies Needed:
- 1/2 Cup of Your Powder Laundry Detergent
HOW TO MAKE HOMEMADE POWDER LAUNDRY DETERGENT
- Large Pot
- Water
- Large Spoon or Paint Stick for stirring or hand electric mixer
- 2 Gallon Bucket with Lid*
- Liquid dispensing facet (Highly recommended but optional)**
*These frosting buckets are food grade and comes with an air tight seal-able lid. You can acquire them from any local bakery for FREE, just ask for them!
I’ve been doing this for many years, and trust me while it may take up some storage space this is by far the best storage method and you will never have to waste time refilling small jars or remaking batches again!
Directions:
- Add 4 cups of water and 1/2 cup of powder laundry soap to a pot.
- Put the heat on med-high, & stir until completely melted – (10 mins)
- Fill up your 2 gallon bucket halfway with hot water.
- Pour in the melted detergent mixture.
- Add whatever essential oils you like, 5- 10 drops (optional)
- Fill bucket to the top with warm water and stir.
- Snap on the lid and let set for 24 hours to gel up. It will be solid.
- Stir to the consistency you desire. Use electric hand mixer if preferred. You may need to stir it again in a few days if it solidifies.
- If you using another dispensing container, pour into preferred containers and seal for storage.
- All done! Enjoy!
Note: Your liquid detergent once set will be completely solid. For a smoother consistency stir it to your liking or use an electric hand mixer. Once stirred your soap will be the consistency of a slime like gel.
Want your soap to go even farther? Some people prefer to dilute it even more at this step (therefore, turning it into 5 gallons, if so you’ll need another bucket). They do this by filling the new bucket/container halfway with the gel & then the other half with water. Do the same for the other bucket, then stir. You can do this if you prefer, our family does not. We feel it provides a stronger clean to not dilute it any further.
How Much to Use:
For HE front loading washers, use 1/2 cup for a large load. The same goes for regular top-loading washers. If it’s a SUPER dirty batch of clothes, you can use a full cup. You can use stain removers or oxi-clean with this too if you would like – just the same as you would use them with the detergent you buy in the store.
For easy dispensing, attach a plastic adhesive hook on to the side of your bucket to hang your reusable laundry cup on it!
Labeling Buckets:
I prefer to label all my buckets with the printed instructions on how to make more. This way when the time comes I don’t have to go searching for the recipe to replace it. I do this for all my homemade cleaning supplies.
To do this, simply cut and paste directions and information into a word document. Print it out, cut to size and tape to the side or back of the bucket. I prefer to use packing tape and cover the entire page with tape. This will give a semi-waterproof element in case of the occasional splash or mess and won’t smear the ink.
Cost Breakdown & Usage:
If using 1/2 cup of liquid per load of this large batch recipe in liquid form it will render 80 loads of laundry! The powder form breakdowns to less than a penny per load or $.007 per load and this liquid recipe go even farther than that!
For two of us, we average about 3 loads of laundry per week which means that this batch of liquid laundry soap (2 1/2 gallons) will last us a whopping 26 weeks or about 6 months! And that is using only 1/2 cup from our large batch of powder! If we made all of our powder laundry soap into liquid using this method, it would be 34 cups of powder which would render 5,440 loads of laundry! At 3 loads per weeks, that’s an amazing 1,813 weeks or over 34 1/2 YEARS worth of laundry soap! Keep in mind that our initial investment was only less than $10 – $15 if you made a dispensing bucket! Now THAT is darn impressive!
I will be documenting our process and see how long it last! We are expecting our daughter in July of this year, so let’s see if I have enough laundry soap to last until she goes off to college or at least high school!!! Challenge Accepted!!
