Teach Me Tuesdays: Laundry Soap

I have been making my own laundry soap since late fall-early winter, so about 9 months now. 

Pic from this site

I have tried using regular body soap & natural hand made soap grated into my laundry soap and I honestly don't like the thick gloppy soap, I think this isn't good for the washing machine. So this time I bought Zote laundry soap I have read that some people had troubles with the zote soap dissolving and leaving clumps. 

The first time I used the zote- I allowed the zote soap, washing soda, and borax come to a boil that you can't stir down, then I allowed it to continue to boil for 30 minutes. It worked great, kinda runny but worked awesome!

I had no issues with clumps of Zote soap and we had good results even with my husbands greasy metal flake dirty grimy work clothes. 

The second batch with Zote I didn't allow it to come a 

full roiling boil and we have chunks of soap kinda floating on the top. 

My hubby says he sometime will have to rewash his clothes to get the clean,it hasn't lasted very long.... 

so I don't think I will make that mistake again.

This time I decided to try the powdered version, Here is what I did:

• 3C Borax
• 3C Washing Soda
• 3 C Baking Soda
• 6 Oz bar of Zote Soap, Grated 

1. Mix all of the above in a gallon container, I used an upcycled ice cream container (THINK WHALE of a PAIL) that has a lid and handle. Mix well for 1-3 minutes until WELL combined. 
2. Use 1-3T per load, depending on load size and "dirtiness" of the laundry.
3.   I make sure I place the powder is as the washer is filling up & then add my clothes. I have used with ALL temperatures, only use HOT with white (FOR whites I have another formula see this post.)

So far this has worked well, I was using baking soda for extra stain lifting power so I just added this into my formula  and so far:

• No build up on clothes, 
• They smell clean,  
• So far all stains have washed out!