Laundry Soap

My mother told my that she would cry if she ever had to make her own laundry soap. It made me think: Should I be crying? Then I remembered that my mother also cried when a large glass of milk was spilled because she knew there was not enough money to buy more. I've never cried over milk...and we have spilled a fair amount of milk in our family. Maybe it is my generation, after all I don't really need to make the soap, there will still be plenty of money even if I don't. As we emerge from graduate school I realize that we are poor, we have been poor for a long time....but being poor today is different than when my mom was poor. I remember her telling me of a time when they had only two things in the fridge. We have never been like that. In the book Mary Barton by Elizabeth Gaskell, Mary decides to sell their blankets so that she can buy food for herself and her dad. It is summer time and though they will need the blankets in the winter, if they don't survive until then it won't matter if they had the blankets or not. It was a time I don't understand at all, but the stories help me to remember to be grateful for plenty of milk, blankets that I will never have to sell and cheap laundry soap. So here it is for anyone who thinks they are poor, or doesn't want to be poor or maybe for someone who just likes to make weird stuff like this!

Homemade Laundry Detergent

1/2 cup of Borax
1/2 cup of Washing Soda
1/3 of a "Fels Naptha" Soap bar
(All can be found in the laundry asile)
Water

Bring six cups of water to a boil. While the water is comin to a boil grate 1/3 of the soap bar with a cheese grater. When the water is boiling add your grated soap and stir until it is dissolved. When it is dissolved add 1/2 cup of borax and 1/2 cup of washing soda. Stir until disolved.

Now take 1/2 of the soap mixture, about 3 cups and pour it into an empty gallon milk carton. Add warm water slowly, to avoid suds, until the gallon is filled. Repeat with the remaining soap mixture.

To use: shake up the mix and add 1/2 cup to each batch of laundry.

Final price for 2 gallons of laundry soap (I didn't double check this):
$.33 for 1/3 of soap bar
$.30 for 1/2 cup of borax
$.20 for 1/2 cup of washing soda

final price $.83 for a batch of soap or about $.01 per load

I used my laundry soap yesterday and it seemed to work fine. You can also use Ivory soap instead of the Fels Naptha, it smells different and is gentler on fabrics but doesn't clean as deeply. Happy laundering!