Homemade Laundry Soap

A few years back we switched from buying our detergents to making them at home.  I used recipes found on the internet at the time, but many of them required boiling this and that and letting the mixture gel, which I never seemed to be successful at.  I stumbled upon Moon Works laundry soap at a small store in Holland, MI. Moon Works in a small company based out of Suttons Bay, MI. 80 loads for $25 is the price on thre container seen below. At the time Forrest was still wearing cloth diapers, so I found a similar recipe as the Moon Works concoction and store it in the original container I got. To refill the container using the ingredients seen below it costs roughly $6-8, the bar soap being the majority of the cost.

Beyond cost savings, it's worth noting that this blend is very gentle on the skin. Regular detergents increase the permeability of the skin and can often lead to skin reactions.  We have been very fortunate over the years to have had a steady supply of hand-me-downs for Forrest to wear (size 4-5 coming up!). Recently we were given some beautiful clothes from a friend that had a strong detergent smell. I rinsed them and meant to rinse them again when they were ready to be worn in a few months. Jacob inadvertently put a shirt on Forrest, and for the next 3 weeks Forrest had a contact dermatitus (eczama looking) rash - just from one evening of wearing a detergent washed shirt. I did 12 rinse cycles on the clothes, but the smell was still there. In the end, the clothes were passed on.

If you don't want to take the time to make it yourself, you can still buy Michigan made clothes soap at local natural health stores. Check here for stores that carry their product.

2 Cups Washing Soda

2 Cups Borax

1 Bar of non-toxic soap, shredded.

Mix together. Use 1/8 Cup mix per load.