I woke up two days ago, looked at the volcano of laundry spewing out of my hamper and oozing across the bathroom floor, winced, pulled the covers over my head, peeked out again and then finally decided to get out of bed. It was definitely going to be a laundry day!! I don’t know how it piles up so quickly, but I am determined to make every day a single-load-of-laundry day. I’m tired of marathon washings.
I got it all done, though, and just in time.
We are renting a house that is for sale. So, it frequently happens that realtors call us and want to show the house, and they want it to be clean. Well, guess who never passed along the message to me.
Hmmm.
I was standing in my thermals (I literally started cleaning the moment I got out of bed), the kitchen just cleaned, last load of laundry in the washer (all the rest had been folded) getting ready to mop the floors when what to my wondering eyes should appear, but three adults standing in my foyer!!
Hello.
Who are you?
How did you get in?
Oh yeah, the lock box.
We need to remove that.
Nearly had a heart attack.
Anyway, I stepped out onto the back deck so that they could walk through and felt relieved and satisfied that the laundry was done (no shoving dirty laundry in the trunk of the car this time) and the house, though not perfect, was respectable.
Phew!
Now to deal with a forgetful husband.
Oh well. No harm done. I’ll let him get away with it this time! 
With all that laundry washing, I got to thinking about my laundry routine and how I manage to keep it going on a tight budget and with high expectation as far as chemicals are concerned. I need to tidy up my routine a bit, but I like my soap so I thought I’d share my recipe with you. You’ll need:
- 2 bars of white bar soap (I use fragrance-free Ivory)
- 3 cups of baking soda
- 3 cups of borax
- A few drops of essential oil of choice (I usually use tea tree or lavender, but others will work just as well)
Using a fine grater, grate the soap into a large container with a tight lid (I just use my food processor to powder it). Add the baking soda and borax and mix. Add a few drops of essential oil, if you want. Store tightly covered. Use 1/2 cup per medium load.
You can turn it into a liquid detergent by placing one cup of powder into a bucket and adding 1 gallon of hot water. Stir to dissolve and then let sit uncovered at room temperature over night. The water will gel and you can use the gel to wash your laundry, 1 cup liquid per load. I don’t recommend making more than a gallon at a time. It doesn’t have any harsh preservatives or chemicals, so it will degrade pretty quickly.
In the dryer, I toss in a damp cloth with several drops of essential oil on it to freshen things up and make them smell nice. Then I get to folding!!
Wish me luck with my knew house keeping routines. I’m determined to do small, simple things that I hope will make a big difference in managing the daily build up.
*Don’t forget to enter our food processor giveaway, if you haven’t already done so*
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
Hey Candace, I was wondering why you don’t use washing soda in addition to baking soda. A lot of the recipes I have seen call for both and I was wondering what the advantages/disadvantages are. Thanks!
Washing soda is stronger and works really well, but it seems to irritate Liv’s skin more, so I just use regular baking soda and borax and we don’t have laundry induced flare-ups. I think that both work equally well.
Hey Candice, I use this same recipe for my laundry soap (I use the washing soda instead of baking soda), but I have a easier way to get the ivory soap into the mix. Put your bar of Ivory into the microwave for 2 mins on high. One bar at a time. Gather the kiddos around to watch….it gets HUGE!!!! After the soap has cooled, use your hands to crumble/fluff the soap. It is so much easier than grating it and works just the same. It does make your kitchen smell very strong of Ivory soap and crumbling it makes me sneeze, but it is just plain easier.
That’s a great idea! I would never have thought of that.