I am using my homemade laundry soap and I have little pieces of soap that will not dissolve in the laundry water. Do I need to use hot water or is there a better solution?
By Cindy from St. Louis, MO
You do need to use hot water, but you don't need a whole washing machine full. Turn on your washer making sure the water is set to "hot". Add your soap and let it fill up a few inches, then shut the washer off. Stir the water with a broom handle or old wooden spoon and let it sit for 10 minutes. Your soap should be dissolved by now. Turn the washer's water temp to what you usually use and proceed as usual.
If this isn't practical you can fill a large container with hot water and dissolve the soap in that, then add that to your washload. The soap won't dissolve if you didn't grate the pieces finely enough. Hope that helps.
This is why I make the liquid. By the way, you don't have to put the liquid in a 5 gallon bucket. After melting the soap in some water, adding the borax and washing soda, pour it into a smaller container with a lid.
ThriftyFun is one of the longest running frugal living communities on the Internet. These are archives of older discussions.
I know you all talked about Zote soap, and I bought it. Now I need washing soda and assume I can find an Arm & Hammer brand in the laundry aisle?
This is for anyone out there who makes their own laundry soap with the borax, washing soda, and grated soap: Have any of you used this with children's clothes, especially those with eczema?
My friend and I tried a laundry soap recipe, I found on this site, the other night.
