My Homemade Laundry Soap

I have been using this laundry soap for almost 6 months. I LOVE it! It is incredibly easy to make and is so inexpensive. If you can find the pink ZOTE in your area, do. It is worth finding. The optical brighteners make a huge difference in how bright your clothes will be. I no longer buy the expensive (and ineffective) commercial detergents. What do I use for a fabric softener? Plain old white vinegar. I add about 1/4 cup to the rinse water of each load. Here is the laundry soap recipe. Enjoy!

1 cup grated pink ZOTE
3 pints water
Dissolve on stove, stirring well. Add:
1/2 cup washing soda
1/2 cup borax
Stir well until thickened. Remove from heat. Put 1 pint of cold water into a 1 gallon container. Add the soap mixture and stir well. Add more cold water to fill container. It will gel as it sits but you can use it right away. I used 1 TBS. for a small, lightly soiled load. Add more soap as needed. Bigger, dirtier loads will require more soap. I would probably have to use 1/2 cup for my hubby’s nasty work clothes.



Very low sudsing so it rinses out easily. Cleans so much better than commercial detergents and the optical brighteners in the ZOTE really brighten whites.

NOTE: If you decide to try this, be aware that you'll need to dissolve the gel in hot water before using it for warm or cold water washing. If you add the gel to cold water it will just float there in a glob. It's highly concentrated. Also, do not expect this to be all sudsy like commercial detergents. It won't. But it cleans like mad. Those suds are just a marketing ploy. We are conditioned to equate "bubbles" with "cleaning".