Homemade Laundry Soap

***UPDATED INFORMATION AT THE END OF THE POST***

I have SOOOOOO much catching up to do on this ol' blog, but for today, I just want to share a recipe for homemade laundry soap.  I made my first-ever batch this afternoon before lunch!  The first load of laundry is in the washing machine this very moment!  

Here's the list of ingredients:

1 bar of soap (Use any kind you want, but I used a $.97 bar I found in the laundry aisle right next to the Borax and washing soda.  It has pre-treatment power so I thought it would be great for this recipe)***SEE UPDATE BELOW***

 
1 cup of Borax (roughly $4.69 for 76 ounces)

1 cup of Arm and Hammer washing soda (roughly $3.19 for 55 ounces)

a big pot (that holds more than 2 gallons)

a grater

a funnel

a long spoon

2 empty gallon jugs/containers   

Here's what you do with all your ingredients:

Grate your bar of soap into your pot.

Fill one gallon jug with water and pour it into the pot with the grated soap.

Cook on med/med-high until the grated soap dissolves.

Add the Borax and washing soda.

Bring to a boil. It will coagulate.

Turn off the heat. Add 1 gallon of cold water. Stir well.

Pour 1 gallon of your detergent into each container.

Now you have 2 gallons of homemade laundry detergent. 

It's recommended that you use 1/2 cup per load.  This won't make many, if any, suds. Suds don't equal clean. This detergent cleans wonderfully!

One box of Borax and one box of washing soda make about 9 recipes.  Add that (total of $7.88) to nine bars of soap (total of $8.73) and the total cost is $16.61.  One recipe (2 gallons using 1/2 cup each load) will wash 64 loads.  That's 576 loads total!!!  Going a little further...$16.61 for 576 loads means it costs just shy of $.03 per load!  I can definitely live with that! 

***My original post was around 3:00 this afternoon, and right now, it's almost 7:00 in the evening.  I just went to do a third load and when I opened the container, I was staring at a jello consistency versus the smooth yellow liquid I had seen a few hours ago.  Bummer.  I read that this could happen so the suggestion was to use a half a bar of soap next time.  In the meantime (and for the remaining 61 loads of laundry from this recipe), I guess I will be scooping out laundry soap goo in half cup increments...***

Hopefully, I will have a chance to update the blog soon with some fun pictures and events going as far back as Christmas!  

Have a nice day,
Carianne