Wednesday, May 23, 2007

Homemade laundry soap

I love laundry. What other chore can you cross off your list while reading a book or making dinner?

But I've never liked laundry detergents. I hate the scents but I dislike paying more to have no perfumes added. A few years ago I spied a bar of Fels Naptha soap at my local upscale grocery and happily put it to good use pretreating stains. So when I saw a recipe for homemade laundry soap using Fels Naptha on Modern Cottage, I put the ingredients on my next shopping list and got to work.

Local upscale grocery had all the ingredients (clearly, I'm part of a trend). It was easier to grate the Fels Naptha bar than I thought -- I little NPR made it a pleasant chore. (Read through the comments on the site to get some good tips on grating and reviews.)

When I first went to use it I had doubts — will this really work? It doesn't foam up or look like it does anything when you add it to the water! But I gave my first few loads a thorough inspection (including the smell test), and yep, it seems to work great.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

How's this still working for you? You inspired me when I first read this month's ago, but I'm finally getting around to making it. I'm hoping you still like it!
jen (wife of the man from Minsk.

Bre said...

I still really like it. I've learned I need to pretreat a bit more than I used to, but the powder mixed with a bit of water to make a paste is an excellent stain remover, even of stains that I missed and dried already. Hope you like it!