don't for get your soap

[momof23goats]

don't for get soap, or preps for making soap.
soap is not hard t omake. there ae a zillion sites for plain soap. if making your soaps, get your ingredients now. and have on hand.
If your going to buy your soap, get it now.
I make all of my soap. I have several batches made, and plan to do several more.

[tropicalfish]

Does it cost more to make your own soap? I don't mind the work, but DH thinks it would cost us more to buy the ingredients than pick up some at Costco.

[bobpick]

Which of the soap recipes are the easiest, and least expensive?

[momof23goats]

all you need for a great all around soap is this, lard water, and lye, now I do a 50/50 usually, half lard and half coconut oil. and it is wonderful soap for bathing. I do a lard water and lye for laundry bars. then i shave the bars, 2 usually, and heat them in mice microwave, to ,melt with a dab of water and set on lowest setting to melt slowly, then i take a 5 gallon pail, and add 1 cup of borax
1 cup of washing soda,
and then i add 2 gallons of extremely hot water. and stir completely. then i add another gallon of hot water.
until i have about 4 and a half gallons. I stir this on and off, [several times a day], for a couple of days. then il et it sit a week. it becomes a gel.
I use thing off an old tide jug to measure it, in my wash, it lasts months.
gets clothes very clean. and I also add 1/2 cup o white vinegar, to rinse water, then when i put them in the dryer, I add 2 or 3, foil balls, and it will make your clothes, come out very soft. .

[Tundra Gypsy]

I heard that they had taken lye off the grocery shelves; where can you buy it? Can you make other kinds of soap without lye?

[momof23goats]

Red devil lye, was what you could buy in your grocery, now you can still buy lye at Lowes under its chemical name. Or order off the net. or get at Lehmans.

[peekaboo]

I heard that they had taken lye off the grocery shelves; where can you buy it? Can you make other kinds of soap without lye?


I bought Red Devil Lye at the local Safeway. If its not on the shelf they can order it for you.

[momof23goats]

yes, they can buy it, at Lowes, it is called buy its chemical name, which is sodium hydroxide,
that is pure lye , which is what you want. same thing as red devil lye.

[janetn]

You can make lye, if your of a mind to. all ya need do is pour water through some ashes. The resulting H2o is full of lye :D

the hardest thing about making soap is sometimes it takes a few tries to get it to set up. but even soap that doesnt harden will still clean :D

[momof23goats]

not every tree, makes good ash. and you set up a pail, and have the water drop through the ashes. and out into another pail. when it will float a raw egg, in its shell, it is lye strong enough to make soap.

[babysteps]

IIRC, you have to use ashes from hardwood to get lye. Does anyone know if that's correct?

[momof23goats]

the best is made from ash tree ash.

[Snowsquaw]

would pine work though? we burn lots of pine (and some almond)
thanks all - great thread!

[Freeholder]

Some woods are probably better for getting lye from the ash, but all ash will make lye. Use your almond wood, though, if you can separate it.

And the egg used for testing the strength of the lye should be fresh. Old eggs float even in water.

Kathleen

[jazzy]

i stock up on bar soap at the dollar store--3 bars for $1--still a great deal. i also stock up on laundry soap when on sale, but i did last year buy the ingredients for making my oun laundry soap, enough for about 3 years. i think it cost me about $75 in all. if i factored right, that makes it about $2 per month to do my laundry.

ive made a few batches of it to get the liquid or 'gel' type stuff to try it out, it wasnt hard to do, and it worked great--man, the clothes smelled wonderful---not much suds, but its not supposed to be bubbly. but it worked real nice.

i can make my own bath soap but im lazy (wish i was more like momof23goats) but prefer to buy it now while its still cheap to do so. but if need be, i know i can make my own if i have to.

hit the dollar stores--you can find some great deals.

[Elderberry]

MOM,
Please tell me about using foil ball - what do they do?

[momof23goats]

thye fluff up your cloths, in the dryer , being dried. and yes, they work. but tennis balls will work great also.

[Birdlady]

Mom of 23...don't you make soap from goat milk?

I read on a "goat" board that this is a wonderful and soothing soap. The makers add scents and colorants (all natural) and make some good $$ too!

Thanks. :)