Make Your Own Laundry Soap Powder

Being frugal is one of the key factors in surviving hard or difficult times, and is one thing that a seasoned Homesteader or Station owner knows only too well.

As the world economic situation worsens day by day, we need to concentrate on being as frugal as we possibly can.

It is an excellent idea to continue living as frugally as we possibly can, even after a crisis may have passed and things appear to be all good once again.

Living frugally allowed my family to save the deposit for a house in 18 months here in Australia where as we had been struggling for 20 years to do the same in New Zealand where house prices were 1/4 of the price that they are here. Everyone here told us we would never do it but we did, and simply because I stuck to the frugal way of living that saw us survive some extremely horrendous financially hard times in NZ.

Just remember that there is no such word as 'can't' in the English dictionary, everything is possible if we are prepared to make the sacrifices necessary to succeed.

Being frugal is not a prison sentence as some may think. In so many ways it is extremely liberating and it allows us to either survive really tough times such as loosing a job, a natural event or simply to save so as to enable us to purchase that dream item whether it be a home, a homestead, a good vehicle or just that dream holiday.

Time is not on my side these days folks and for a very good reason but I will try to post some really frugal tips and ideas as I can.

I am posting this one on making your own laundry powder today, because I am in the process of making another batch for myself today.

Enjoy and always strive to be as frugal as you possibly can. When situations are all good, fine and dandy, being frugal allows you to save money for things that would otherwise be out of your reach like a home for example.

Enjoy!

Here is the recipe to make your own Laundry powder:

Laundry Soap Powder

Gather all your ingredients and equipment together.

1 bar of homemade soap or Pure soap/Sunlight Soap*

1 cup Borax*

1 cup Washing Soda*

Only 3 ingredients are needed to make your own Laundry powder & a good grater.

Finely grate the bar of soap and do not worry as it does not take very long. Mix all the ingredients together until combined. 

It is best to use a soap that you have had for a while as it will grate up much finer. I used 1 very hard bar which grated to a powder and 1 bar that was not so old and not so hard and it grated more like Parmesan cheese does. Both however blended very well in the final mixing. Make sure that you use the finest grating on your grater and not the one you would use for grating cheese.

If your grated soap is not really fine then you can put it through your food processor and pulse until really fine. 

Place the grated soap and measured out Borax and Washing Soda into a large bowl and mix until well blended.

At this stage you can add a few drops of your favourite essential oil such as  lavender if you wish but this should not be added if members of the family have allergies to perfumes or scents. 

The final result ready to be placed into an airtight container.

Store in an airtight container.

For this batch I used 2 bars of soap and made a double batch. A container of Borax equals exactly 2 cups. The Washing Soda packet gives us about three cups of product so the remaining 1 cup or so was sealed up again and will be used next time for another batch of laundry powder.

To use:

Add 2 tablespoons or a small laundry powder scoop per load for an average wash. If you have a need to clean really heavily soiled clothing such as the men’s work clothes then use 2 to 4 tablespoons depending on how dirty the work clothes are.

Place white vinegar in the fabric softener section of your washing machine if you have one and begin the washing cycle.

Notes:

*These items can all be purchased from the laundry sections in any supermarkets.

This laundry powder works best with a warm wash cycle. The laundry powder will not bubble up like the commercial laundry powders do but it cleans brilliantly and does not leave a soap scum behind.

This laundry powder is ideal also, for people that are allergic to many of the chemical commercial brands of laundry powder that are on the market today.

Enjoy, AND Happy Laundry Days Ahead!

Karma Barnes

Founder and Chairperson

Academy of Alpha To Omega Homesteader Inc. (The Academy)

I would like to encourage others to share any frugal or money saving tips please. I know you all have tips that you use to save money so how about joining in and sharing them so others can also learn from us all.

Please feel free to share how you save money in the comments section below. We would all love to hear from you.