January Project

For January I decided my project was going to be to make laundry soap. I've wanted to do this all year, since a book I read last January, so I wanted to do this first. (This is my year to not put off things that I should do or am interested in doing. Today I took a dress to the cleaners that Isabella outgrew last MARCH!! that has been sitting in a corner of my living room, waiting to go to the dry cleaner so I can pack it away. But, I'm on it this year!!) There are a bazillion recipes online for laundry soap. I decided to make a powdered soap instead of liquid, because the process seemed a bit simpler and some of the reviewers liked it better.

I ended up using this recipe: 1 C borax, 1 C washing soda, 1 bar of ivory soap, and a few drops of lavender essential oil. And I got a jar to store it in when I bought the supplies.
You grate the soap and mix it together with the other powders and oil. I didn't think my soap grated fine enough so I put it in the food processor for a spin.


I ended up tripling the recipe and it all fit in the jar.


You just use 1-2 tablespoons per load. This batch will last me a long time, and I still had plenty of supplies left to make more. Next time I might try some soaps other than ivory that are a little more natural. I was a little skeptical about the small amount to use to wash, but I tried it today and my running clothes, that I ran 5 miles in, and trust me- did not smell pretty, came out with no smell. So I figure that was a good test!

And for those of you who don't really care about these kinds of things, I included these pictures for you! :)