Soap, don't know where else to ask this.

[constable01]

,Soap, Do you folks make it?(and if you do how?)

or

Stockpile it?

I'm thinking for something like dish soap and shampoo, stockpile it, for other needs make it.

[ktcottle]

I've only made bath soap and lip balms, ointments, salves, etc at this point. Next few months I'll be making lotions, creams, shampoo's, etc. Bath soap I make many many lbs at once and stock pile it. I purchased a book full of simple recipe's for all the kinds of soaps and lotions and shampoo's, etc.

[constable01]

Where does one find such a book, and the ingredients for all of it?

[sunsinger]

Where does one find such a book, and the ingredients for all of it?

Go to amazon.com
select books
type in soapmaking

Anyone know which books will be the most basic and would have ingredients that would be obtainable in the future?

Anyone ever frustrated by modern cookbooks that say:
put in i can of campbell's soup or some other modern ingredient that will not always be around?

[waif69]

I'm glad that I'm not the only one who thinks about these kind of things... I just haven't had time to do any of them.

[ktcottle]

Where does one find such a book, and the ingredients for all of it?

http://www.brambleberry.com/
http://www.pinemeadows.net/ (provo)
http://www.mountainroseherbs.com/

These are a few I've used. Just google soap making or supplies, and many companies will come up.

I hope this helps.

[signseeker]

So far I've just stockpiled it. Irish Spring. :thumbsup:

[Noahs ARK]

I would love to make soap but until then I have cases of Dial, shampoo, lotion, etc.

[constable01]

I do not want be the description of Lazarus "..He stinketh..." when the poo hits, i wanna be able to wash it off!!

[constable01]

Actually i'm worried more about effective Dish soaps and shampoo than bar soap, bought bulk Bar soap is cheap and easy to store. However without effective dish soap survival is short with food poisoning!!!

[sunsinger]

So far I've just stockpiled it. Irish Spring. :thumbsup:
I hear Scottish Spring is stronger...

[jackmormon]

I used to make my own soaps but now I have boxes of soaps from hotels that I've stayed in. I haven't bought soap in years.

[arbilad]

Most commercial bar or soft soap will make the skin on my hands break out in eczema like rashes, so I avoid it like the plague. But there are places I can buy soap that doesn't bother my skin, and some handmade soap is just fine for my skin.

[Harm]

Well if a certain movie that good mormons probably haven't seen :a0 (28): human fat is the perfect ingredient for both bar soap as well as explosives when mixed with the right ingredients...

[thermocouple]

Wife makes laundry soap, works great. Will see if I can get her to post the recipe.

[ghostcat]

We have made bar soap using commercial lye and vegetable oil. I've learned how to harvest lye from ashes which makes a liquid soap unless you add salt. The thing to remember is to not use metal pots and utensils when making soap, they tend to disintegrate!! Glass or ceramic cooking pots and wooden spoons and spatulas are ideal.

One good source for the basic information on soap making and many many other skills of interest to DIY'ers is the Readers Digest book "Back to Basics (http://www.amazon.com/Back-Basics-Traditional-American-Skills/dp/0895779390)"

[iggy]

One good source for the basic information on soap making and many many other skills of interest to DIY'ers is the Readers Digest book "Back to Basics (http://www.amazon.com/Back-Basics-Traditional-American-Skills/dp/0895779390)"

Oh. My. Word. I have that book. Absolutely love it! I paid way, WAY less for it, many decades ago.

It is in mint condition too- though I have read it, used it, cooked the recipes it has, traced pictures from it's pages to use on my home made greeting cards.

[Cassiopeia]

I have made home made soap in the past, with lye, goats milk, lard...it was the best soap ever! People with dry skin particularly loved it.

That said, I don't have time for that sort of thing these days, so stockpiling is easier and more realistic.

[Karen Ricks Wife]

Where does one find such a book, and the ingredients for all of it?


This will hopefully give you a start. I have a few other recipes I'll share in another post...have to look for them, byb. :)

[Karen Ricks Wife]

Preparedness F.Y.I Volume 60





How To Make Your Own Laundry Detergent & Save Big Money!



A preparedness friend of mine has been experimenting with making lots of cleaning supplies at home, but this one is by far the craziest - and the most successful! Basically, she made a giant bucket of slime that works incredibly well as laundry detergent at a cost of about three cents a load!

Here is what you need:
· 1 bar of soap - Whatever kind you like; I used Lever 2000 because we have tons of bars of it from a case we bought a while back.
· 1 box of washing soda - Look for it in the laundry detergent aisle at your local department store - it comes in an Arm & Hammer box and will contain enough for six batches of this stuff.
· 1 box of Borax - This is not necessary, but I’ve found it really kicks the cleaning up a notch - one box of borax will contain more than enough for tons of batches of this homemade detergent.

** If you decide to use this, please be careful.

· A five gallon bucket with a lid or a bucket that will hold more than 15 liters - ask around - these aren’t too tough to acquire.
· Three gallons of tap water.
· A big spoon to stir the mixture with.
· A measuring cup.
· A knife.

Step One: Put about four cups of water into a pan on your stove and turn the heat up on high until it’s almost boiling. While you’re waiting, whip out a knife and start shaving strips off of the bar of soap into the water, whittling it down. Keep the heat below a boil and keep shaving the soap. Eventually, you’ll shave up the whole bar, then stir the hot water until the soap is dissolved and you have some highly soapy water.

Step Two: Put three gallons of hot tap water into the five gallon bucket - the easiest way is to fill up three 1-gallon milk jugs. Then mix in the hot soapy water from step one, stir it for a while, then add a cup of the washing soda. Keep stirring it for another minute or two, then add a half cup of borax if you are using borax. Stir for another couple of minutes, then let the stuff sit overnight to cool.

You’re done! When you wake up in the morning, you’ll have a bucket of gelatinous slime that’s a paler shade of the soap that you used (in our case, it’s a very pale greenish blue). One measuring cup full of this slime will be roughly what you need to do a load of laundry - and the ingredients are basically the same as laundry detergent. Thus, out of three gallons, you’ll get about 48 loads of laundry. If you do this six times, you’ll have used six bars of soap ($0.99 each), one box of washing soda ($2.49 at our store), and about half a box of borax ($2.49 at our store, so $1.25) and make 288 loads of laundry detergent. This comes up to a cost of right around three cents a gallon, or a savings of $70!!

Plus, you can make slime in the kitchen - and have a legitimate reason for doing so!!!!!

Written by Trent Hamm "About the Simple Dollar"
http://www.thesimpledollar.com (http://www.thesimpledollar.com/)
http://www.thesimpledollar.com/2007/03/15/how-to-make-your-own-laundry-detergent-and-save-big-money (http://www.thesimpledollar.com/2007/03/15/how-to-make-your-own-laundry-detergent-and-save-big-money/)

Some of this information is a repeat from another's post. For that I apologize but thought there was additional information on here that might be helpful.

When I was a Stake Prep Coordinator I received tons of information that I put into a preparedness FYI newsletter of sorts...this is one of those. Enjoy!

[Karen Ricks Wife]

More on Laundry Soap shared from another poster.

When we first set out to make our own homemade laundry detergent we thought it would be difficult and time consuming, boy were we wrong! It was actually incredibly fast, easy, and inexpensive. Now, years after making our first batch, thousands of others have tried it and loved the results.

Note: This soap/detergent works in all HE front-load washers… read more below.

Homemade powder soap required only 3 simple ingredients & took around 5 minutes to create, in respect of opportunity cost I abandoned my original idea of brewing a liquid detergent and set my sights on creating the powder variety. Enjoy!

Soap/Detergent cost breakdown & savings

Prior to making our own, we were using Arm & Hammer liquid detergent. Here is the breakdown in cost analysis:

Note: you only need to use 1 tablespoon of this homemade detergent per load, although you can use 1 – 2 scoops for heavily soiled loads)
•Arm & Hammer® liquid 100 ounce detergent – $6.79 – 32 loads = $0.21 per load
•Tide® with Bleach powder 267 ounce detergent – $20.32 – 95 loads = $0.21 per load
•Jabs Homemade powder 32 ounce detergent – $2.98 – 64 loads = $0.05 per load

As you can see, whether I compare against traditional store bought liquid or powder, I am saving $0.16 per load!

There are also many other benefits of homemade products aside from cost savings.

SIMPLE INGREDIENTS

I purchased all these ingredients at my local grocery store:
•1 – 55 ounce box of Arm & Hammer® Super Washing Soda = $3.99
•1 – 76 ounce box of 20 Mule Team® Borax = $4.99
•1 – 10 pack of 4.5 ounce bars of Ivory® Bar Soap (**note** you can use cheaper soap, I actually had this on hand already. Use whatever tickles your fancy – Other brands of commonly used bar soaps include Pure & Natural®, Fels-Naptha® and/or ZOTE®. Both ZOTE® and Fels-Naptha® are made for and sold as “laundry bar soap.”)

All items were found in the laundry isle.

A SIMPLE RECIPE

Each batch yields approximately 32 ounces (between 32-64 loads based on how many Tbsp used per load).
•1 bar of shaved bar soap (Ivory, ZOTE, Fels-Naptha)
•1 cup of borax
•1 cup of washing soda

Thoroughly stir together for 5 minutes and enjoy the results! That’s it folks…seems too good to be true, but it is true indeed!

Regarding High Efficiency (HE) Front-Load Washers

HE front-load washers require “special soap” for one reason alone – low suds. Because they use less water, they require soap that is less sudsy. The good news is, this homemade detergent is VERY low suds. The ”special” HE detergent is just another advertising mechanism to push consumers to buy “special soap” for unnecessarily high prices.

Regardless of your washer type, just make your own in confidence, here’s how.

THE MAKING OF A BATCH

Shave 1 bar of soap. I used a simple hand grater:

Add 1 cup of borax:

Add 1 cup of washing soda:

Stir thoroughly:

Continue stirring thoroughly:

2 batches of this recipe fit perfectly into a 32 ounce yogurt container:

When you do a load use 1 tablespoon of detergent per load (you can also use 1 – 2 scoops for heavily soiled loads).

There you have it folks!

Simple, easy, fast, & efficient homemade laundry detergent.

What are you waiting for? Go get the ingredients & make yours today!

I love making my own laundry detergent. You save money, and avoid chemicals you don't want your family exposed to. My daughters come over occasionally and we make it together. I also make my own hand-soap. Now that's an art! I demonstrated this in Relief Society. I was stressed finding a soap that was not too expensive but also a good soap. Every sister who signed up made their own soap with my supervision. Everybody's soap turned out great.
We have a Jersey cow. I have learned to make cheese. I love learning new things. We also have milk goats, chickens and in the summer, a huge garden.
Gardening must be practiced. Its also an art! Preparing the soil is most important. I want to be prepared by knowing these things in advance! It gives me vision of how they lived 100 yrs or more ago!

[Karen Ricks Wife]

I somehow duplicated my own post. Weird..It must be true...I've joined the...old farts club....waahaaahaaaa.

So I went in and deleted the info. Mods? This post can be deleted. ;)

[prairiemom]

I just got this book:

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51z3aLdZeeL._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click,TopRight,35,-76_AA300_SH20_OU01_.jpg

I haven't had a chance yet to read it in depth, but a cursory look at it tells me it will be very interesting. It starts by listing all the ingredients, what they do, why they are important to soap making or the effect on skin, hair, etc. I'm looking forward to trying the recipes.

[arbilad]

We just made our own hand soap today. I can't say how well it worked out yet because it is still setting in the mold. We've been making our own laundry soap for a while now. We use $10 worth of ingredients for laundry soap that lasts us for a year. We hope to similarly save money on home made soap. While in the past I have sometimes got home made soap from my mom, we would prefer to be able to make our own. And soap that doesn't make me break out tends to be really expensive, at least $6 a bar or more.

[CurtisG]

We started making our own soap almost 2 yrs ago, spent maybe $10 or so. (Borax, washing powder and zote) My wife tried making dishwashing machine soap but that didn't work very good, Walmart brand works great so we are back to that.
My wife says she wants to make Castile soap, but since I rarely bath or use soap, it's not important to me:sifone:
No, actually Ivory is the only soap I like so we buy a lot of it when it's on sale.

[arbilad]

We too tried making our own dishwasher soap and it wasn't really a savings for us.

[Earthling]

I've heard good reviews about making your own laundry soap but so far haven't tried it. I have stockpiled plenty by buying it on sale and using coupons so don't see a need to go through the work of making it. I am also concerned about using homemade soap in the new high-end front loading Whirlpool machine I have that is supposed to take special soap.

[iggy]

I buy liquid laundry detergent from Walgreens, Walmart and RiteAid when it is on sale for $1.99 for 1/2 gal-$3.99 a gallon jug. Since I have been using 1/2 to 1/4 the recommended amount we no longer get blisters, rashes & sores. I also rinse our garments in a third rinse. From Walmart the Xtra brand for 45 oz (28 loads) is $1.98 ($0.07 per load) so at 1/4 the amount for lightly soiled it is $0.0175 and for 1/2 for more soiled aka stinky loads it is $0.035 per load. I either remove the pour spout from the empty bottles and drain the scant 1/4 Cup of detergent out or if the spout will not come out without ruining the top (the lid won't go back on) I then turn it upside down into an old plastic pitcher to drain what will come out. Then I fill the jug with tap water, replace the cap and re-label the jug has WASHING/FLUSHING WATER. These jugs I store in my shed outside. When our water is turned off, I can still wash with this soapy water.

I have two cats who are NOT outdoor cats. They go through 40 pounds of scoop-able litter a week. For a while the Tidy Cat in a plastic jug was available for $4.99. (over half the Manufacturers Suggested Retail Price). I removed the plastic sheet label, rinsed it out with outside hose water then filled them to within 3" from the top. These I stored in the outdoor shed too. For flushing and washing/rinsing with. I had a metal shelving unit that I thought was sufficient to use. Came with the house. Well, it buckled under the weight of 8 of these jugs! I have 20 jugs under my backdoor ramp waiting to be filled with water. Need to purchase a REAL heavy duty metal shelving unit. One that can hold 750 to 1000 pounds. These 20 # jugs can easily flush a toilet using only 1/4th of the water. The trick is: Do NOT flush by emptying the tank - even if you a low water tank.

The water filled litter jugs rinsed and filled with outdoor tap water can easily be transferred into a cooking stock pot, put on the stove and brought to boiling to use as water to rinse the dishes. We have yet (been four years) to rinse, stack and fill our 55 gallon barrels. Got them for $10.00 each from a deep sea fishing vessel. They filled them with Gin, Vodka and clear cheap Tequila. Once empty they tossed them. A member from church arranged with the ships owner to dispose of them, he gets paid to collect them, then sells them for $10.00 each. Win-Win situation. Even though we live on the Central Oregon Coast with water every where - sea water is only good for flushing. The river water two miles from the ocean and 1/16th of a mile from my house is salt water. If I had 10 barrels to collect rain water - those would have been filled in the last three days!

Our gutters have fallen apart - so this summer they HAVE to be replaced, seems to me that this is the time to get more $10.00 barrels, and rig up the rain water collection. To hide the barrels, enclose them in a raised 'garden' bed. Can't grow anything on the ground around the house - so I would put doubly high raised beds there anyway. So lets hide the water barrels at the same time.

Regarding making shampoo. I buy TresSemme on sale at bogo free, then I purchase jhirmack distinction silver shampoo (have white hair) I mix a 13.6 oz $3.99 jhirmack with a 32 oz $3.98 of Tresemme and a bottle of water from each of those two shampoos. I upend the bottles and drain them for at least 24 hours after I add water and then empty them. Stir the concoction carefully with a slotted plastic spoon. Then I refill my empty shampoo bottles. Of course you are going to need more bottles than those two - so I use well rinsed 2 liter soda bottles. I have also used Suave shampoo or any other brand that is on sale for less than $3.99 for 32 oz. I fill up a large bottle that has a pump and use a scant pump to suds up with. My hairdresser dilutes her shampoos - that is where I learned this trick. The manufacturers of the laundry, dish, and shampoo's want you to use their product, lots of their product. Their recommended amounts are way way more than what you really need to get your dishes, clothes and hair clean. If you are on rationed water - for whatever reasons - you don't want to waste rinse water if there is no need to. If you are rationing water - save the rinse water from your hair to flush toilets with. The rinse water from dishes to heat up and use as wash water then flush with it. Same with laundry. Heat the rinse water from the hand washed clothes and use it for wash, then save that water to flush with.

Another trick the home care nurse taught us: Use a small hand towel (tea towel or in our family it was Dad's shaving towel) to wipe the soapy water off the body, then a clean wash cloth to rinse. Less soap on the body means the rinse cloth doesn't collect soap fast. Also use the hand/tea towel to dry the soap out of the hair. Then use warm only water to rinse the remaining soap out of the hair. IF it is possible, do this over a 5 gallon or larger bucket - collect that rinse water and use it for the next person's hair washing. I did this personally when my hair was thick, to my shoulder blades long (I was 36 yr. old) I used an old bath towel that I had folded in half and sewed up rather than a hand towel. Took two quarts of water total to wet my hair for the shampoo, and rinse - total - Two (2) quarts. When I was done, after rinsing over my large (huge) metal mixing bowl, I came away with 1.5 quarts of water. I heated that water up, and washed my entire body with it. Used a dark wash cloth for the soapy water (1.5 qt) and a white cloth for the rinse water (0.5 quart). All of this happened in Jan when we had a rare snow fall & three week freeze. My water was frozen in my 1500 gal holding tank - At least I took the laundry to town to wash, then brought home to dry. I had electricity, just no water. Hauling water was a royal pain. Filling new plastic garbage cans from the culvert was just nasty & extremely heavy - ended up leaving the cans in the back of the pickup. It was so time consuming to filter the water- coffee filters just were not efficient, not when you are filtering out swimming critters, bugs, leaves, pine needles, algae, moss & dirt.

[iggy]

I have two cats who are NOT outdoor cats. They go through 40 pounds of scoop-able litter a week. For a while the Tidy Cat in a plastic jug was available for $4.99. (over half the Manufacturers Suggested Retail Price). I removed the plastic sheet label, rinsed it out with outside hose water then filled them to within 3" from the top. These I stored in the outdoor shed too. For flushing and washing/rinsing with. I had a metal shelving unit that I thought was sufficient to use. Came with the house. Well, it buckled under the weight of 8 of these jugs! I have 20 jugs under my backdoor ramp waiting to be filled with water.

UPDATE - Don't use the kitty litter jugs - they aren't meant to hold water. All of the water evaporated out of the jugs, which is fortunate. At least they didn't leak out. Re-use the liquid laundry detergent jugs to either store your home made liquid detergent or to store water to use in case of emergencies to flush the toilets and/or to wash clothes with. Washing dishes with it is just too much soap, wastes too much water to get it out of dishes.

When you stock-pile bar soap, store it in containers that mice/rats cannot get into. They love to eat it. Fat you know.

[iggy]

I've heard good reviews about making your own laundry soap but so far haven't tried it. I have stockpiled plenty by buying it on sale and using coupons so don't see a need to go through the work of making it. I am also concerned about using homemade soap in the new high-end front loading Whirlpool machine I have that is supposed to take special soap.

The laundry soap I make doesn't suds up.
For laundry:
1 Box (3.79 lbs.) Super Washing Soda
1 Box (4 lbs.) Borax
1 Box (4 lbs.) Pure Baking Soda
3 bars (5.5 oz. ea) Fels Naptha soap
1 container (1.3 lb.) Oxi Clean
1 (28oz) Purex Crystals [I use two at least of this size]



Grate the bar soap. What I do is grate it, then put it in my Nutra Bullet to powder it. Tried doing that in my blender, but it just doesn't work. Also, in the Nutra Bullet, it cleans up totally, where the blender does not.
Mix together: Layer each box with a thin layer of the finely grated bar soap and the crystals. Then mix by hand - - but wear GLOVES. Even though ALL the ingredients are environmentally safe and NOT harsh on clothes, they are rough and harsh on your hands.
For a normal load of medium dirty clothes, use one coffee scoop. [bought just for this at the Dollar Tree] For heavy dirty clothes, use two scoops.
NOTE ~ your clothes are NOT going to smell of perfumey laundry soap. Also there will be NO suds in the machine. At least not until all that extra commercial laundry detergent has been washed/rinsed away.


After making this amount, I really liked the results, so then I made a triple batch and stored it in empty plastic ice cream containers. https://www.walmart.com/ip/Country-Rich-Reduced-Fat-Vanilla-Ice-Cream-4-25-l/32232238 They stack wonderfully, and one container fits perfectly in the cupboard above the washer. Also, the inside of my washer is cleaner to the touch. No more scummy feeling.

[iggy]

We too tried making our own dishwasher soap and it wasn't really a savings for us.

This is my recipe for automatic dish washing powder.

Automatic Dishwashing Powder
2 Cups Super Washing Soda
1 Cup Kosher Salt
1 Cup Baking Soda
6 packs Lemon or Lime or Orange Kool-Ade
- - optional - - 1 Cup Water
Mix in bowl, by hand [wear gloves] all the dry ingredients.
I didn't do the water part. And don't use any other brand of unsweetened lemon or lime or orange drink mix. Only Kool Ade has enough oooph to work. AND I doubled the amount!
Store in an air tight container along with a nylon sock w/the toe filled with white rice - to absorb any moisture and to keep the powdered detergent from turning into a solid chunk.
I have only used lemon drink mix, because I know that lemons are most definitely a disinfectant and it smells so good.

I use 2 tablespoons for a normal load, and 3 tablespoons for a heavy wash load, splitting it 1 tbls & 2 tbls in the covered dispenser.

I also use white vinegar in the rinse dispenser. This gets everything rinsed off.

As for the cost, this is the Walmart price breakdown:
Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda 55oz $3.97
Great Value Baking Soda 16oz $0.97
Morton Kosher Salt 3 lbs(48 oz) $2.44
Kool Aid Unsweetened Lemon ea. 98cents x 6 = $5.88

Total batch cost is 6.94 divided by 48 loads = $0.145. I double the load amount, thus my cost is $0.29. For Great Value Auto Dish-washing pods (refill pack) the cost is $6.705. BUT they have ingredients that you do not need to add to the environment.