DIY Laundry Soap & Solar Dryer

Aloha friends!

Even with the craziness of moving I still had my every day housekeeping to do. Laundry stops for no one! :) Especially with 4 kids. Anyway, I found myself nearly out of laundry soap so I made a new batch. I've been making my own laundry soap for about 7 years. I'm sure I've saved hundreds of dollars and saved the Earth from a bunch of plastic. Laundry soap is super easy to make and takes just a few minutes. Here's what you do...

Arm & Hammer Washing Soda (don't use baking soda)
Fells Naptha or Zote Soap (both of these bar soaps are made specifically for laundry)
Borax

Grate the soap finely. Measure equal amounts of grated soap, washing soda and Borax. So, if you have 1 cup of grated soap, you'll use 1 cup washing soda and 1 cup Borax. Mix everything together in a bowl. Put into air tight container. Use 2 tablespoons per load of laundry.

For folks who have machines that require liquid detergent you'll need to put the dry mixture into a large pot and add twice as much water. If you have 3 cups laundry soap, add 6 cups water. Heat the mixture and stir with a wisk until dissolved. Once cooled put it into container. Use 1/2 cup liquid soap per load.

Once you wash your clothes in your own laundry soap it's great to use a "solar dryer" when you can. I hung my clothes out often in San Diego. We had a lot of sunny days with low humidity...clothes dried fast there! On Kauai I've noticed items take considerably longer to air dry but, electricity is expensive here so I think it's worth the extra time.

Thanks for reading the coconut diaries!