Laundry powder

[Lindy]

You would figure it out the same as you would any other product. Wholesale = 2 x cost including packaging, labels and wages that you would be paying someone else to do it even though you are the one doing all the work. The wages need to include set-up, production, cutting, shredding, packaging and labeling. Retail is going to be 2 x wholesale....

HTH

 

[DeeAnna]

"...If you're making homemade laundry soap, why do I hear so much about adding chemicals to it?..."

What kind of "chemicals" are you referring to? The washing soda, borax, and baking soda? If that troubles you, then don't use 'em -- there's no rule that says you have to.

But your water should be rainwater soft if you want to just use soap for your laundry, or you'll have trouble with the insoluble scum that soap forms in hard water.

--DeeAnna

PS: See Post 4 in this thread for the reasons why other ingredients besides soap are included in many recipes for laundry soap mix.

 

[bluescrubby]

Does anyone sale their laundry soap? If so how do you go about figuring out the price?

I price mine at the same price per load as the leading brand. That's why I'm really concerned that all powder recipes seem to use ten times as much washing soda and borax per load as my liquid recipe!

I think I'll just make a sample batch of powder and add the same amount of WS/borax as I would be adding with the liquid and see how it works.

 

[Ruthie]

I just sell the soap part, with directions on how to make their own. I sell it for $1/oz.

 

[DeeAnna]

My costs at the moment for my laundry soap mix are in the realm of about $4.10 US per pound ($9.00 per kg), not including the cost of the EOs I like to add for a light scent. This base cost does not include any markup -- I am just getting a modest payment for my time and covering my out-of-pocket expenses for materials.

At this price point, I'm only going to make this soap mix for myself, family, and very good friends. This pricing does not remotely compensate me for the additional hassle and risk of selling to the public.

If I wanted to sell wholesale/retail, I would need to seriously reduce my material costs by using a cheaper soap recipe (currently 50% CO, 50% lard), buying materials in bulk, upgrading to better packaging and more attractive labeling (currently zip-lock plastic bags and simple labels), eliminating the essential oils or use inexpensive fragrance oils, and adding a fair markup to my base cost for wholesale and retail sales.

 

[lsg]

Soaping 101 has a great tutorial on making liquid and powdered laundry soap:

http://www.youtube.com/user/soaping101

 

[dudeitsashley]

I just sell the soap part, with directions on how to make their own. I sell it for $1/oz.

That is an interesting way to go about it.

 

[babysoap]

I am thinking of adding sodium percarbonate when I make my home made soap. I can get it pure. For the Aussies out there Napisan only has about 35% in it or something. I have kids and I'm not sure if homemade laundry would work.

 

[Trinity]

My first attempt at liquid laundry detergent using 1 cup washing soda, 1 cup borax and grated bar of laundry soap that I made like 3 weeks ago with about 5 gallons of water and for some reason the detergent did not thicken up at all I don't know how thick it is suppose to be but it is still really runnny. I did use my well water which is softened ...... Could that be it and it also has a strange smell ? Has anyone had this experience? Can it be saved?

 

[tryanything]

For those that say a lye heavy soap is best to use, what negative percentage do you use? - 1-2% or more?

 

[Ruthie]

I use a POSITIVE 2%. Don't need extra oils as I wash my clothing, but want to make sure my lye is used up, too. I would NOT recommend a negative number.

 

[PippiL]

My friend bought some from Etsy and she says, the person adds cocoa butter
to the soap, so there is no need for a softener ? Do you think, that would make a difference ?

 

[Kansas Farm Girl]

I don't use a softener with the homemade laundry soap. I do put white vinegar in the rinse to make sure there isn't any soap scum stuck in the fabric. I don't put any softener in the washer nor do I need drier sheets. I find my towels are absorbent and not rough. I don't have any problem with static either.

 

[Robert]

I price mine at the same price per load as the leading brand. That's why I'm really concerned that all powder recipes seem to use ten times as much washing soda and borax per load as my liquid recipe!

I think I'll just make a sample batch of powder and add the same amount of WS/borax as I would be adding with the liquid and see how it works.

I'm disturbed that just about all the homemade laundry detergent (liquid or powder) recipes call for much more alkali than research long ago showed was optimal. These recipes that call for more borax or washing soda (or both) than soap would produce what would've been considered a very inferior product in the days when soap based laundry detergents were the rule.

First of all, there's no point in using both washing soda and borax. They each do approximately the same thing, soda a little better IMO. They "soften" water, provide alkalinity, and knock down suds a little.

Alkali do help the cleaning of fabrics, but they also degrade many fabrics. And even in helping the cleaning there are diminishing returns after a little is added. I can't tell you the point where the value a little more of them contribute to cleaning is exceeded by the value lost due to fabric degradation, but there were extensive tests done early in the 20th C., and that point is much lower than what's seen in most of the recipes going around lately. The best products were the ones that were mostly soap, no matter how "hard" the water was. (What was odd was the finding in the development of Tide that it worked the other way around, in that its surfactant made clothes scratchy unless a lot more "builder" was used -- but the builders were less alkaline than the ones commonly used with soap.) And of the builders then in common use with soaps, silicates were better than carbonate or borate. Were there commercial powders that were higher in alkali? Sure, but they were the cheap stuff, not the good stuff.

What the problem seems to be nowadays with soap is the prevalence of HE washers. In principle they're similar to the old front loaders (which already tended to suds more than today's top loaders), but because of their speed and small water volume, I understand they can really make a lather out of soap, to where the laundry can wind up floating on top. But users report that's not a problem with these alkali-heavy recipes. Unfortunately, that's because they have so little soap that to the extent they accomplish much cleaning, they're doing so rather harshly to the fabrics.

 

[PippiL]

Thank you Robert for sharing this, I already used more soap, but good to know.
I will just use baking soda.You have any ratios in mind ?

 

[PippiL]

I was determined to sell laundry soap, but it's very time consuming.I'm thinking about to get the ninja blender otherwise it's impossible to pulverize the soap/powder.How do you get your's chopped and pulverized ? I already ruined one kitchen aid blender.

 

[Nightlilly]

I bought a cheap food processor with a shredder blade. Shred the soap first then add it back to the processor with the chopping blade and an equal amount of washing soda or borax. The finer powder helps break down the soap shreds.

 

[Sapwn]

I bought a cheap food processor with a shredder blade. Shred the soap first then add it back to the processor with the chopping blade and an equal amount of washing soda or borax. The finer powder helps break down the soap shreds.

Did this cheap food processor actually pulverize the shreds?

 

[azimuth]

My HE Washer has its own built in measuring cup in the detergent drawer. That way I know I'm using just enough as per the machine manufacturer's requirements instead of what the DETERGENT manufacturer says.

I have been using 50% lard, 50% coconut with a 3% lye discount. (Maybe when I get more confidence and experience, I'll try a lower discount.) I have done stovetop HP and CPOP. A day or so after the soap is made -- while it's still soft -- I shred it with my food processor, then roughly mix the shreds with equal parts by weight of baking soda, borax, and washing soda.

I use the blade in my food processor to powder the grated soap with the other ingredients until the soap is a powder -- the texture I'm going for is like coarse cornmeal. I include the other ingredients with the soap in the processor bowl to keep the soap from softening and "mooshing" together rather than turning into a powder. (Found that tip out the hard way.)

I use about 2 tablespoons of this mix for a typical medium load and 3 tablespoons for a dirty or large load. I have a top loading HE washer, and I almost always use cold water. Because the soap is so finely ground, I haven't had any problems with it dissolving quickly and rinsing out properly.

I got curious about the other ingredients -- what do they contribute to the party? You'll find recipes that do have baking soda, and others that don't, for example. Given the many variations on this theme, it's obvious that there are many opinions about what makes a good laundry soap mix. Here's what I concluded:

Baking powder is a fabric softener, secondary water softener, and pH buffer. Its pH is slightly above 7.
Borax whitens, cleans, and deodorizes. Its pH is about 9.5.
Washing soda is the primary water softener. It whitens and degreases. Its ph is about 11.

A lot of people, like Siefenblasen, also add oxiclean to the mix. I have seen some recipes that include the citric acid that Lindy mentioned, but not as many. I add oxiclean separately as needed -- that's just my preference.

Oh, and I stumbled across some inexpensive plastic shot glasses at Walmart -- a dozen for under $2. A shot is about 2 TBL, so they make great scoops and reduce the temptation to add too much soap to the load. A little condiment cup scrounged from the local burger joint would work too.

Pet peeve -- I hate the big caps that commercial laundry detergent comes in!!! I am convinced they are cleverly designed to make the consumer use way too much expensive detergent. :x

 

[Robert]

Thank you Robert for sharing this, I already used more soap, but good to know.
I will just use baking soda.You have any ratios in mind ?

Yeah, any amount of soap to 0 baking soda! Baking soda's not going to do anything.