Homemade Laundry Detergent

So I have had homemade laundry detergent sitting on my Pinterest board for a long time and I finally decided to give it a go.  All I can say is why have I waited for so long!!! I can't believe I have been waisting so much money.  This is so economical and it works just as well!  Here's what I did.  I grated about a 1/3 of a Fels Naptha bar.  This is way easier than I thought it was going to be.  I also grated about a 1/3 of a bar of good smelling soap purely for the scent of it.

 I thought grating the soap was going to take a long time so I set my son up with a movie and took a seat with my grater, bowl and soap and started grating.  Thank heavens it went faster than I thought!

 

 Next I added the soap gratings and six cups of water to a large pot.  I turned the heat on to medium-high and heated it until all the soap gratings had melted.

 Once all the gratings were melted I added 1/2 cup of borax and 1/2 cup washing soda to the pot and mixed it thoroughly.  I had an empty larger sized laundry bottle that I saved and a large Costco juice jug that I cleaned out and used those as my containers.  I divided the mixture between the two jugs and then filled the rest with water.  I also added a few drops of wild orange essential oils.  Once everything was in the jugs I sealed them well and then gave them a good shaking.  Then I let them sit.  Occasionally I would go and give them another shaking throughout the day, but I gave it a good 24 hours before I used it.  

I think this stuff works great! It is a little chunky(i know that sounds gross), but if you can get past that it's totally worth it!   I use about 1/4 - 1/2 cup depending on my load size and I use it in a HE washer and haven't had any issues! Totally recommend this stuff!

So here's the recipe

1/3 bar Fels Naptha bar- grated

1/3 bar good smelling bar soap - grated 

1/2 cup washing soda

1/2 cup borax

essential oil of choice - optional

I have a friend that uses a large bucket instead of the individual containers so that is an option as well.  You can find her over at http://theeverydayhomeschool.blogspot.com