This is on my Must try list!

Homemade laundry detergent



Having a family of four means having scads of laundry to do. Which means spending a pretty penny on laundry detergent. I decided it was time to make our own detergent; it was much easier than I'd anticipated. The hardest part well be scouring the town for ingredients.

Found the recipe on this blog (www.marigoldroad.com)
You will need:
--1 bar Fels Naptha soap, grated (amounts to approx 2 cups)-use smallest grater size so it's super fine (found bar at Ace Hardware for $1.29)

--1 cup Borax (found box at Ace Hardware for $5.49)

--1 cup Washing Soda (found box at Dillon's for $2.85)

--1/4 cup OxyClean (not necessary, but can be added) *I didn't use it*

Mix all of it together with a spoon; will look bumpy, granular, and probably not all-mixed (that's ok).

Use 1T for a light load and 2T for a large or really dirty load.

Drea has some helpful notes on her blog about the cost-effectiveness of homemade versus store-purchased laundry soap. She makes a strong case!

The smallest grater hole on my grater caused the soap to stick. I had to use the next largest size, and the soap came out in little curlie-cues. I'm not too worried about it because it's still pretty fine. I've heard food processors can grate soap down pretty fine as well, but I don't have one.
I doubled the recipe to make the effort worth it (Drea mentions a double-recipe lasts up to 6 months!!), and used Ivory as the second bar of soap. For storage use a GladWare reusable storage container (8-cup size).