Handmade natural soap for laundry is also preferred by many. Tread Lightly Herbals caters to consumers who want handmade soaps for bathing or laundry. They have a variety of handmade herbal soaps that are fragrant and healthy to the skin. A bar would cost $5.00 and you can choose from different soaps like sweet pea, pumpkin spice, rosebud, lavender bud and sandalwood vanilla. To take care of your laundry, they have the Castile Laundry Soap which is a great substitute for synthetic detergents. This product is advisable for those who have sensitive skin as it is gentle but is still able to clean deeply. The product only has five ingredients: one is water and two are from vegetable soaps. They only have one available size which is a 32 oz bottle and costs $12.00. This is enough to take care of 64 loads.

You might have already had bad experiences before with industrial strength laundry soaps which use a lot of chemicals. These natural soaps haven’t been made available until recently and now that it is, consumers are reaping the benefits they get from going green.

From Tammy's Blog:

First, here is how I made my laundry soap. I used this recipe:

Homemade Laundry Soap

1/3 bar Fels Naptha soap or one whole bar of Ivory or homemade soap (I used Ivory)
1/2 cup Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda
1/2 cup borax powder
water
2+ gallon bucket, for storing

1. Grate the soap and place in a sauce pan. Add 6 cups of water and heat until the soap melts.

2. Add the washing soda and borax and stir until it is dissolved. Remove from heat.

3. Pour 4 cups of hot water into the bucket. Add the soap mixture and stir. Add 1 gallon plus 6 cups of water and stir.

4. Store your laundry detergent in the bucket, covered. (I put plastic wrap on the top of mine, and I also left my long plastic spoon in the soap to stir it briefly before each use.) Use 1/2 cup per load of clothes.

Now, for my review of the soap!

I like it.

It's very inexpensive, and will save us a lot of money! At a penny or so per load, it's a really good deal. It was easy to make, and will last a while. And I feel soooo frugal!

The good news:

This soap seems to work well for washing cloth diapers. It gets them really really clean and rinses out well.* I had been using "All Free & Clear" on my diapers, about a tablespoon per load, and it was still difficult to get rinsed out.

This soap is also working well for our normal, lightly-soiled laundry.

The bad news:

I double the amount of soap per load when I wash Joshua's work clothes. After I've washed Joshua's work clothes in this soap, they smell and look just like they did before they were washed. (He works in a factory.)

So I'm going to either have to increase the amount I use by a lot, or just use regular detergent from the store. I'm really not sure if this soap gets his work clothes very clean. Cleaner than before they were washed, yes... and I do use warm water. I'm just not satisfied with how the soap has worked for them so far.

In summary:

But, even if I keep using store-bought soap for Joshua's work clothes, I am still saving a lot of money by washing our other laundry with the homemade soap! And I am super-happy with the results of using it on diapers!

More info:

I have also read from various sources that you can add essential oil to your soap to make it scented. I want to try this but right now I only have tea tree, peppermint, eucalyptus, and clove oil, and Joshua and I weren't so sure we wanted any of our clothes to smell like those scents. ;)