Grandma's Lye Soap

I think that maybe I should have called this soap Not Grandma's Lye Soap.  This soap is definitely an improvement over the lye heavy soap that Grandma used to make.  In the past making soap was a kind of guessing game.  It was almost impossible to know what your lye concentration was, so the soaps often turned out with a bit too much.  Everyone has heard the stories about how Grandma's homemade soap took your skin off.  Today we have modern scientific methods of measuring lye, so our soaps are very accurate.  This soap is made with 100% lard.  I hesitated for a long time to try animal fats in my soaps, but I love it.  It makes a very hard, white bar of soap that lathers very well. This soap also lasts a long time because it is so hard.

So give a bar of gentle and creamy Grandma's Lye Soap a try today.

How to Make Laundry Soap

   Making laundry soap is something I have always wanted to try. Making your our own laundry soap saves me money and doesn't have all those bad chemicals that are in the commercial detergents.

    I figured that laundry soap doesn't need any great oils or moisturizing properties so I chose to just use something cheap. Crisco is cheap.  I used generic Crisco to make it even cheaper. Just make sure that you get all-vegetable.


Laundry Soap Recipe
48 oz of Crisco
12 oz water
6oz lye
fragrance of your choice

   I mixed this  recipe up using basic soapmaking procedure and used 2oz of Clean Linen Fragrance to make it smell good.  Poured it in a mold and let it solidify.  You can use laundry soap as soon as it is hard because it doesn't need to cure. Just be sure not to use it on your skin and wear gloves when you grate it.  I prefer to wait until it gets a bit harder to grate it up.
Cut this into approximately 8 bars.

Grate 1 bar and place in saucepan.
Cover with 5 cups of water
Heat gently, without too much stirring, until completely melted
Add 1 cup Borax and 1 cup Washing Soda
Place in large bucket or container and add 2 gallons of water , stir
Pour into containers, old laundry soap containers, or juice containers.
This will thicken as it stands, but will also separate.  You will need to shake before pouring.
Use 1/2- 1 cup per load.  Works well in HE machines too.

UPDATE- I have started doing this with half the water. It makes it more concentrated, and in my opinion easier to use. I use half the amount 1/4 - 1/2 cup in my laundry. If it looks separated after it cools you can use a stick blender to kind of blend it back together.

This soap cost me  .53/bar

I purchased my Borax at Alice.com for $4.29 that is only .06/oz. .  4oz is   $0.24



I also purchased my Washing Soda at Alice.com for $2.99, that is only $.05/oz.  4oz is $0.20



That is a total of $0.97 for approximately  64 loads of laundry
With 5 kids we do about 3 loads a day.   A batch of soap will last about 21 days.  My regular laundry detergent cost $6.35 for 32 loads.  That is $12.70 every 21 days.  A savings of $11.73.  Over the course of a year that is $203.87.  Amazing!

By popular demand I now sell the soap bars, shredded soap, and soapmaking kits that I use to make my own laundry soap
http://avalonsoapworks.com/zencart/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=13

Check out Alice.com too.  They are awesome!


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