I have been making and using various versions of homemade laundry soap for several years now. The true test of how well it works is, how well does it work over a period of time. Here are my observations using it long term. It does a terrible job of removing odors from clothing. If I wear perfume, it remains in the clothing. If I use it on my workout clothing with a lot of perspiration, it doesn't remove those odors very well either. I have noticed it doesn't do that great of a job on my white clothing and they become dingy over time, and even with the use of bleach in the wash. The reason for this is because it doesn't do such a great job of removing ground in dirt in my white socks from when I go hiking, etc. With that said, it does an OK job on clothing that isn't that soiled. I reserve using it on things like my sheets and other lightly soiled clothing. I use it mostly on my dark clothing which optical brighteners are not needed. I am a soapmaker so I end up with a lot of soap scraps to use in making this, so I continue to make it to make use of these scraps. One other thing I have noticed is that the powdered version doesn't always completely dissolve in the wash and sometimes my black clothes get "lint" all over them. I don't notice this happening when I use commercial detergent. So for whites, I use the cheap detergent in the bucket from Costco. I only use 1/2 the recommended amount and it gets my whites clean. Then the homemade detergent is used for most everything else. I make the powdered version because I don't like keeping buckets of goo sitting around. I notice that after using this for a while, I have to switch back to commercial detergent for a month or two after about a year of using the homemade soap, and then I can go back to the homemade version again. If I don't do this it just stops working so well and things are slightly dingy and the smell of "old soap" starts to build up in the clothing. (I am very picky about my laundry I guess). I use vinegar in a downy ball in order to aid in the rinsing of everything. I don't use a clothes dryer either, so stains are not set into my clothing. With that said, I will continue to use it because it is frugal for me to do so with so many soap scraps always sitting around that need to be used up.

Are these small squares like 5" squares, or did you just cut along the seams? If they are small squares I definitely would not attempt to wash them at this point. I googled whether or not thrift stores wash things and some said yes, others said definitely not. If it is shrinkage and running dyes you're worried about would just use the fabric as is -- I'd assume most of the shirts were worn and washed before being donated. On the other hand, if the idea of working with fabric when you don't know where it's been just "creeps you out" then you might soak them in hot water with soap and rinse w/out too much agitation. Hope I'm not putting ideas in your head, it would not bother me personally.

I, too, press the sliver onto the new bar. Have been doing that for over 30 years. The trick, of course, is to do it at the END of the last shower of the day, so that it has at least overnight to dry. I've never ever had one 'fall off'. Also unwrap soap as soon as it comes home from the grocery store, giving it at least 3-4 months to dry out so it doesn't dissolve as quickly. It's also a good idea to use a soap dish where it won't be sitting in 'wet'. The more the soap dries out between uses, the longer it will last. Marilyn Sue--hope you're still around and reread this thread. Soap and detergent are NOT compatable. Put most simply, soap sees detergent as dirt and vice versa, so they FIRST react with each other, using up their cleaning power, cancelling each other out. Combining soap and detergent, you actually have LESS cleaning power instead more. You might want to save the soap chips for another use, so your clothes come out cleaner.

It's nice to have choices....and this is a good example of those choices. No one is saying NOT to use one kind or another, just sharing our experiences. groomingal - I used fragrance-free liquid softener (I guess that adds to the price of doing laundry, doesn't it?) because my clothes were as stiff as a board using homemade soap (I always line-dry clothes). My SIL, who is always going to a dermatologist for one reason or another, said her doctor said the fragrance-free liquid softeners and softener sheets were just as toxic (if not more toxic) as those WITH fragrance. So I haven't used liquid softener or softener sheets in a long time, but switched to homemade soap and vinegar rinse. With homemade soap I had to add vinegar to EVERY load. Now I just add it to the kitchen towel load, and the bath towel load, and probably don't need it for them. Homemade soap doesn't rinse out of clothing as well as Charlie's does, and I don't like to waste water on multiple rinses. We're often in drought conditions around here and I try to use the least amount of water possible. You can really feel the difference - even clothes wet from the washer washed in Charlie's feel softer... No more board stiff blue jeans. If one dries clothes in the dryer, this won't be as big a problem as line-dried. It's a given with soap that you'll get a soap build-up over time - that's the nature of using natural soaps. Something I read recently about using soap in laundry - "soap causes the fabric to deteriorate while leaving an odor". I can vouch for the odor. Off-season clothing that had been in storage often had an acidic or rancid smell and had to be washed before we could use them. I suspect that's from the fat in the soap that's used in the mixtures. While saponified beef tallow can be used to make a satisfactory soap, there are some substances in tallow that do NOT saponify, and have been known to cause acne and skin breakouts (homemade soap can be a problem in cloth diapers causing diaper rash). So instead of soap made from beef tallow, choose soap made from palm, castor, coconut, or olive oils. It's even worse if people use cold water wash and homemade soap. Neither soap nor detergents clean effectively in cold water below 65°F. Detergent manufacturers and care lables define cold water as 80°-85°F. I'd occasionally use ALL for awhile to clean and brighten clothing after a number of months of using homemade soap and things began to look dingy (from soap and hardwater). Homemade soap isn't as powerful as commercial detergents, so I found myself adding Oxyclean and Cascade to improve cleaning - which add to the cost per load. Another thing about using homemade soap if you have hard water; instead of a couple T. of homemade soap, you may have to use as much as 1/4-1/2-cup in really dirty loads of laundry, as well as BIZ, to get the dirt out. We normally don't even use a full tablespoon of Charlie's Soap per load. I'm not seeing as much wear on our clothing as when I use homemade soap. I'd also say if people are just starting to use homemade soap, it takes several washing to rid your clothing of the build-up from your original detergent and softeners (if you used them). It will take several months before you get the true experience of clothing with homemade soap. So one or two weeks isn't a good trial period for homemade soap. But after all that, I still keep the ingredients in storage should times get tough and I would need to make homemade soap again. I occasionally still make a Liquid Natural Soap to use on bedding and as an all-purpose cleaner: 1 c. liquid Castile Soap (I use Dr. Bronner's) 1/3 c. of salt 1 c. BAKING soda 1 c. vinegar 40 drops of Grapefruit Seed Extract Essential oils (optional) To half a gallon of water, add the salt and baking soda which has been melted down over low heat and just enough water to help it dissolve. Add Castile soap and the vinegar. Fill your gallon jug up the rest of the way, and then add Essential oils and Grapefruit extract. You'll need to shake this mixture each time you use it. You can use this as an all-purpose cleaner in a spritz bottle. -Grainlady