The Laundry Soap Diaries

Background

The Pin: 

• Lavender Laundry Soap Pin

The ingredients per instructions: 

• 4- 4oz. bars of grated Castile soap
• 1- 78 oz. box of Borax
• 8- 16 oz. boxes of baking soda
• 3 tblsp. lavender essential oil

The directions:

• Mix it all together. Use 2T per load. 

Now a few things caught my attention about this pin:

1. The author had put the soap into a pretty glass jar so the soap actually looks nice. Simple, but I see how this could actually make laundry less annoying. 
2. The ingredients have the potential to be all natural, vegan, no animal testing. Also, if purchased correctly, all should come in 100% recyclable material. LOVE IT! 
3. She claimed that the soap would cost less than $25 dollars and be a year's supply. From her other posts it sounds like she has at least one little one so that means more laundry (and tougher stains). 

The Ingredients 

First, let me start with the ingredients, where I purchased, and their cost. 

• 4- 4oz. bars of grated Castile soap 


• I purchased Kirk's Castile Soap from drugstore.com. At the time of this article it was on sale for $1 per bar (buy two at $1.49 save $1.00)
• I also bought a bar of Dr. Bronner's lavender Castile soap from drugstore.com for $4.09. I decided to spend the extra on this and not buy the lavender essential oil, which would cost about $10 - $14 for the amount she said to use. 
• Drugstore.com offers free shipping on orders over $25 so I filled up my cart with 8 bars of Kirk's soap, 1 Dr. Bronner's soap, and a bottle of specialty lotion for my mom. Somehow the order only came to $20.52 and I got free shipping? I'll take it! 

• 1- 78 oz. box of Borax 
• Author noted later in her article that the Borax is actually a 76oz box
• I found this on sale at my local QFC store for $4.29. I'm sure I could have waited for additional discounts or coupons, but this seemed reasonable since I opted out of the essential oil (and I don't support Walmart). 

• 8- 16 oz. boxes of baking soda
• Kroger brand baking soda was on sale for $0.69 so I bought the eight boxes I needed. 

• 3 tblsp. lavender essential oil
• As I said above, I opted out of this because the price seemed really high. I also figured that substituting the Dr. Bronner's for one bar of the Kirk's would be sufficient. 

Based on the ingredients I used my batch of soap came to $16.86 before tax (we are at about 9% sales tax in my area so with tax about $18.38). The author also discusses using ebates.com to get money back on her purchase. I personally prefer upromise.com because my funds go directly into my student loan account. You can also set up an education fund for your child. What a nice buffer that would be when they've turned 18... No, I don't get any referral reward either. I got 7% back on my drugstore purchase (so $1 something). 

The author also says that this equals $0.08/load.She didn't say how she got this, and I as a non-believer/former auditor, had to check her work:

Ok, so she's right :)

The only cost I didn't include was the bucket and lid I bought at home depot to mix the stuff in (about $5) and the jars I used to store it (about $0.85 each). Why? The bucket and jars are reusable and therefore a fixed asset in my laundry world. 

Some may say, wait! I can get some laundry detergent on sale that equals about $0.06/load. This is true, however you should also take into account the paper and ink used to print the coupon and, more importantly, just what is IN that laundry detergent. I looked at my labels and how weird is this...they don't tell you what they ingredients are. Hmmmm. Even the "free and clear" kind. I'll discuss the recycling bit more later. 

Grating the soap

In the original recipe she uses a regular cheese grater (and others comment that a food processor works great too). I opted for the hard cheese grater on my hand held cheese grater, the side used to make Parmesan powder. Maybe a little overkill, but I have a phobia of undissolved detergent on my clothes. 

Notice I did this on a piece of foil? I could have also done this on a cutting board, in a bowl, etc. I used foil because I wanted something super easy to clean up (not that cleaning something with soap on it isn't easy) and something recyclable so that this could be a fully environmental project. 

The Mixing

Here's the final product, in the bucket, all mixed together and waiting to be jarred up. Lessons learned: 

1. Mix outside and on a day when the wind will carry the soap dust away from you. I didn't expect it to have so much kick-back when I mixed it. Inhaling powdery soap wasn't that great. 

2. If possible, wear gloves or use a tool to mix it. My hands are still cracked and dry from digging down into the powder. 

The Environment

• All the packaging was paper and therefore recyclable. 
• The foil I used to grate the soap on was recyclable. 
• I will reuse the bucket and glass jars. 
• Both Kirk's and Dr. Bronner's soaps are vegan, cruelty free, and made with natural ingredients (not chemicals). Dr. Bronner's soap is also organic. Both are also made in the USA. 

Check your current laundry detergent. Is is cruelty free? Does it list EVERY ingredient used? Does it state that it is made in the USA of natural, not chemical or animal products? Did you know many places still can't recycle the type of plastic detergent bottles are made of AND the lids are not recyclable. 

I'm not saying this detergent is the best for the environment. I am saying it is better for the environment and the animals not tested on than most mast produced laundry detergents. 

• Borax (sodium borate) is a naturally occurring mineral that is mined from the earth. That's a TON of environmental impact. 
• Baking Soda - sodium bicarbonate - is also a product of mining. Soda ash, mined in the form of the ore trona, is dissolved in water and treated with carbon dioxide. Sodium bicarbonate results from this. 

Unfortunately there isn't a "better" version of either of these. You could find a company that participates in other environmental activities to somewhat offset the mining portion, but we are kind of stuck. (If anyone ever reads this and does know of a lower impact Borax or baking soda option, please post a comment!) 

Using the Product

Per other's comments on the original post - this stuff works great! Smells great! No, mine didn't suds at all. Yes, it got the sweat smell out of my volleyball socks and the mud and grass out of my beau's hunting pants. No, there wasn't left over soap on my clothes. Yes, my whites were bright even with the large amount of iron in our water. 

I'm glad I found this and I know we will always be improving. Dr. Bronner's also has a rose soap. I may have to try this next year (assuming that's when I'll need to make some more). 

Thanks Hen Pen for the Recipe!

Resources:

Pinterest Pin

The Hen Pen - where the pin lead 

My chemistry 101 class in college - Baking soda roots

http://www.mindat.org/loc-3484.html - information about Borax Mining

New Year's Resolutions

First off - Happy New Year! Granted I have no followers and no page views BUT I figure I need to wish myself a Happy New Year!

I heard a story on the radio (yes, I'm a radio listener) about New Year's resolutions and that we shouldn't actually tell people our resolutions because the rush of telling someone has been shown to reduce adrenaline and therefore these resolutions are more likely to go to the back and be forgotten. Huh, good thing I have no followers or page views. I'd like to say that's why I'm terrible with resolutions. In reality it's because I have terrible will power and a condition that makes me think of contingency outcomes (to a compulsive level) so by the time I have thought of the contingencies of my actions it's too late to do the original action, thereby allowing me to "not fail" at an action.

So this year I have one resolution:

1. be nicer to myself

Only one?! You think you're that perfect? Hell no. It is the one resolution I could come up with that encompasses any other resolutions I would have had (lose weight, do more art projects, reduce trash output, etc) and the one resolution that I so far cannot come up with contingencies for.

So once again, Happy New Year!