Homemade Laundry Detergent

Due to popular demand... the recipe for homemade laundry detergent.

I love this laundry detergent. The cost breakdown is about .40 per gallon. It makes 2 gallons at a time.... so .80 cents each batch! I've used this for well over a year now and it works great on all my clothes. There is no difference whatsoever in the quality between this and the overpriced stuff at the store.

Ingredients

6 cups of warm water

1/3 bar Fels Naptha Laundry Soap (grated)

1/2 cup washing soda

1/2 cup Borax

Directions

Heat 6 cups of warm water and the grated Fels Naptha in a large pot until dissolved. I have a designated stock pot from Big Lots I use for my laundry soap. Stir in the washing soda and Borax. Mix and heat until dissolved. Boil 15 minutes. Remove from heat. It may have a honey-like consistency (but it is not required to be a honey-consistency). In a 3 or 5 gallon bucket, mix the soap and enough cold water to make 2 gallons. Gently mix. Pour into old laundry detergent containers or milk jugs. Let sit for 24 hours. The soap will gell*. Use 1/2 cup for each load. Shake before each use. The detergent separates and may have clumps. This is normal! It will not suds up in the washer, but it still gets your clothes nice and clean.

*If the detergent doesnt' gel up or reach honey consistency, it will still work!

Where to find the ingredients

Borax is very easy to find! It is at most stores, including grocery stores and Target.

Fels Naptha is mostly found at grocery stores, sometimes super stores like Target & Wal Mart.

Super Washing Soda is the hardest to find. I find mine at WinCo, but most people say they find it at Ace Hardware or sometimes large Wal Marts.

1/3 bar grated Fels Naptha

Stir 6 cups water and grated Fels Naptha until dissolved

Add 1/2 cup Super Washing Soda & 1/2 cup Borax and boil 15 minutes

Fill soap mixture and enough water to make 2 gallons

Fill in old laundry detergent containers or milk jugs.

Magical boiling water! - a money saving tip

I shall now share a magical, money saving tip...

Have you heard about the powers of boiling water? I'll be honest, I've heard about this trick for well over a year now, and have never tried it. Tonight, I unleashed my magical homemaking skills and boiled water.

I then held the tops of those Lysol No Touch Hand Soap System soap dispensers. They are the ones that are basically impossible to screw the lid off. Rigged! Rigged I tell you! The same goes for those Swiffer Wet Jet Refills.

Anyway, you hold the top in boiling water, take it out, unscrew the cap and voila! It comes right off!

Now I can enjoy the excitement of my Lysol No Hand Touch Soap System without having to spend $4 on the refill. (I'm sorry, I can find Up & Up Generic Soap in a massive refill bottle for under $4... let alone ONE dinky size Lysol Refill for $4!)

Needless to say, I'm very thrilled off of this!