Sweet Home Sunday! {DIY Homemade Liquid Hand Soap}

Ahh, it's Sunday again! Since my last DIY homemade recipe came out so well, I thought I'd try another: homemade liquid hand soap. I can usually get hand soap at Walgreens or CVS but since I already had the ingredients I thought I might as well try it. 

I guess liquid hand soap making isn't exciting for dogs

Here's the recipe:

Homemade Liquid Hand Soap

1 bar of soap

water

Directions: Grate the bar of soap. Bring 4 cups of water to a boil. Turn off the heat and add the soap; stir to melt. Continue stirring until fully combined. Allow to cool for at least 15 minutes then stir again. Allow to cool for another several hours. Stir to check the consistency. If it seems too runny, reheat and add more soap. If it seems too thick, reheat and add more water. Then you can add essential oil and coloring, if desired. Pour into dispensers. 

I got the 3 pk. of Dial Basics Hypo Allergenic soaps. They cost around $1.25. I'm a fan of Dial anyways and the bars were small so it was less grating for me, which I like. My soap was scented but if you want to personalize your soap with your own essential oils then make sure you buy fragrance free soaps. 

Besides getting to watch how to properly pour your soap flakes (lol) you also get a glimpse of one of my tattoos. It probably depends on which soap you use but the 4 cups they recommend was not enough for mine. If you use the same soap that I did, use more around 6 cups of water. 

The soap all mixed up and melted in the water. Also, use a whisk instead of a spoon like I did. It breaks up the soap much better. 

My soap! I ended up with a lot more than I planned on so I poured my extra into old spaghetti sauce jars. Before pouring into your own dispensers, use your whisk to break up any little bits of soap that might be there otherwise it'll clog your pump. 

The Cost

The one soap bar I used cost me about 42 cents. I got that pitcher out of it which will fill about 7 of my old soap dispensers. 

Why I Love This

First of all, because its cheaper than buying it. You can make the soap smell and look exactly how you want with adding essential oils and food coloring. If you go crazy experimenting and you don't like it, you didn't lose a lot of money. 

Gift Ideas

And for those of us that are already thinking about Christmas coming up, its a sweet gift idea. Make a batch of this soap, add their favorite scents or colors, pour into a Mason jar and add a ribbon. If you want a sleeker look you can buy soap dispensers. I like giving people gifts that are homemade and that they can actually use. 

Happy Sunday! xx Brittany

Update on 'Sweet Home Sunday' Homemade Laundry Recipe!

Back to share my update on making the homemade liquid laundry detergent. If you didn't see my post with the laundry recipes, you can check it out here!

The Homemade Liquid Laundry Detergent

These are the only ingredients I needed, besides water. I've heard that other people had problems finding them but they were all at my local grocery store a block away :)

20 Mule Team Borax $3.74

Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda $2.89

Fels-Naptha Soap Bar $1.09

The first step is to grate the bar of soap. I used a hand grater like you'd use for cheese. That was a freaking pain! I'd suggest using a coffee grinder or something else that doesn't kill your wrist in the process. I also used a washcloth to hold the soap while I grated because it was slippery. My first time using a cheese grater when I was young- I ended up scuffing all my knuckles. Lesson learned. 

After mixing it all up and letting it sit it was time to bottle it up. The bad news was that I had recycled all but 1 of our old laundry jugs so I had to get creative. I ended up bottling it in old washer fluid bottles and my boyfriends tea jugs. I came up a little short so the rest is staying stored in the 5 gallon bucket.

We have a top load washer so I used 1/2 cup per load as the recipe says. I was a little nervous so I tested it out on some extra blankets we have. Beyond excited when they came out! They were clean! The weird thing about this is that it doesn't get sudsy. So don't freak out when you throw it in the washer and don't see bubbles everywhere. It also doesn't have much of a smell but that can be changed if you use scented fabric softener. 

I'm even thinking about making extra batches just to give to my family. {What a lucky family I have!} It is so cheap and works! From this one recipe you get 10 gallons of detergent! Makes you wonder why they charge so much for it in a store. This is a great thing to try because you'll save money and reduce waste because you can re-use your containers.

Try it out and let me know what you think! For the next Sweet Home Sunday I'll be trying another homemade recipe. Come back and check it out! xx Brittany

Sweet Home Sunday: DIY Homemade Laundry Recipes

Do you enjoy cleaning, laundry and all those other domestic chores? Me too! For those of you that read that question in horror, this must be odd for you. :) I'm going to be doing something new on Sundays as you can tell from that lovely picture of my kitchen above. On Sundays I will be sharing with you tips and ideas to save money around your home. I've found that the older I get the cheaper I get which is good news for you and good news for the wallet. I can practically hear my bank account swelling as we speak. So join me as I try new ideas for around my house that maybe could work for your home too.

The moment I always hate: when the laundry detergent jug starts to get very light. About that time I start thinking I could just add some water to maybe stretch out a few more washes. But then it cleans less efficiently and I end up getting mad anyways. Laundry detergent isn't cheap and it practically evaporates around here since I'm such a clean freak. I've heard that making your own products is usually the cheapest alternative. Making? Hmm. If it were really that easy wouldn't everyone be doing it? 

I started looking around and found a recipe. With only 4 ingredients. 4! The visions of me in a lab coat playing around in my basement and blowing something up started to disappear. And I also found a recipe for fabric softener. This is something that I might be able to handle. 

Homemade Liquid Laundry Detergent

4 cups hot water

1 Fels-Naptha soap bar

1 cup Arm + Hammer Super Washing Soda

1/2 cup borax

Directions: Grate bar of soap and add to saucepan with water. Stir over medium-low heat until soap dissolves and is melted. Fill a 5 gallon bucket half full of hot water. Add melted soap, washing soda and borax. Stir well. Fill bucket to top with more hot water. Stir, cover and let sit overnight to thicken. Stir contents of bucket. Fill a clean used laundry jug half full with soap and fill rest of way with water. Shake before each use because it will gel. 

Optional: You can add 10-15 drops of essential oil per 2 gallons. Add once cooled. 

Yield: Recipes makes 10 gallons

Top load washer: 5/8 cup per load {approx. 180 loads}

Front Load Washer: 1/4 cup per load {approx. 640 loads}

Cheaper Fabric Softener

1 container liquid fabric softener

4 sponges, cut in half

Directions: Pour entire contents of softener into 5 gallon bucket. Fill empty container with water twice and add to bucket. [2 parts water to 1 part softener] Add sponges to bucket. When ready to use wring out sponge and add to dryer. 

I knew there was a reason we kept all those buckets in our garage! Today I will be gathering up all my supplies and trying these out. I'll update after I'm all done and have pictures for you. I might even throw in a picture of my boyfriend standing there shaking his head at me while I do this {lol} Check back later today! 

[These recipes were found on www.duggarfamily.com. They have many other recipes you can check out. I received no compensation for this post or for adding the link. All opinions are my own based on my experience.]