Home-made Laundry Detergent... cheap, cheap, cheap!

I was so tired of spending at least $10.00 every time I had to buy detergent, then a friend gave me this recipe for detergent you make at home, and now it's cheap, cheap, cheap! Here are the ingredients:



1 bar of Fels-Naptha soap ( all these ingredients can be found in your laundry detergent aisle. I found mine at Kroger)

1 cup of Arm & Hammer washing soda (see pic above...NOT baking soda!)

1/2 cup of Borax powder



Directions: Grate the bar of soap onto a paper plate while you have 5 cups of water on the stove heating just to boiling.

I use this kind of grater to make it easier to grate (this was my moms)



Pour the grated soap into the hot water and stir as the soap melts.



This is what it looks like as it's melting down....sunshine in a pan! :)


Pour 4 gallons of hot water into a 5 gallon bucket. When the soap is completely melted, pour it into the 5 gallon bucket and stir well. Add the washing soda and stir, then add Borax powder and continue to stir until dissolved You can add a few drops of essential oils at this point if you like, but I omit this step because the soap smells SO good. Cover the bucket (I use plastic wrap) and let the mixture cool overnight. It will become very gelatinous!



(don't ya just love my pink bucket! lol)



Stir the detergent (it will look like egg drop soup) before using a funnel and pouring into whatever containers you have. I use old detergent bottles and gallon jugs.



Altogether the ingredients cost about $6.00, it factors out to be a few cents a load! (and you still have washing soda and borax to use again!)



Here's how much I get out of each recipe! You only use 1/2 cup per load unless you have heavily soiled items or towels, then I will use about a cup.



Don't you just love saving money so you can use it for something better............like a trip to TJ Maxx!!!! :-)

Blessings
MELISSA