I have been making our laundry gel for a while now. It works amazingly well for a wide variety of dirt and grime. You can probably imagine the messes we get into living with so many animals, dust and dirt, not to mention that my partner works in the agricultural industry (lots of dirt there too) and I am a teacher (paint, marker, ink, runny noses, glitter, need I say more?). This little recipe makes up about two large coffee jars of washing gel which can be scooped out with a spoon and hurled into the washing machine with minimal care and attention.

I found the recipe here a couple of years ago. Of course I didn’t have any borax (which the recipe calls for) so I made it without any. My recipe works really well without borax, but if you want to add it to the mix maybe you will get even better results.

Basic laundry gel recipe;

Ingredients

1 bar pure soap or home made soap (approx 100g)

1 cup washing soda

3 litres water

4 teaspoons essential oils of your choice

Method

Grate soap into a big pot, pour in 4 cups of the water and heat, stirring occasionally, until soap has dissolved. Add washing soda, extra water and stir until combined then add essential oils. Pour into wide mouthed container and allow to cool.

The ingredients, all ready to go

The grated soap and water unheated.

After the soap dissolves.

Poured into open mouthed jars.

This gel doesn’t froth up much but it does get clothes clean.

I use three of the scoops you can see in the picture in my washing water and wash multiple loads in the same water. This batch lasts me about four months, so it is a very economical and eco friendly thing to do. It takes about half an hour to make a batch and you can do other things at the same time (I fed the animals while the soap dissolved).