Homemade Laundry Soap

I've been making laundry soap for my family for about six months now and it saves us tons of money, about $17 a month. That's $200 a year! For us, it costs about $0.01 a load! I know there are alot of recipes and variations of laundry soap, but this is what I make and it works really well. I'll update this with pictures of each step as soon as I get a working camera...mine decided to bite the dust. :(

I've never kept track of how many loads this does, but according to my calculations, it should do about 68 loads.

Ingredients needed:

• 1 bar of ivory or dial soap OR 1/2 bar of Fels Napth soap (Fels Naptha may be difficult to find depending on where you live. It can be found in many country and Mennonite stores, but Dial works fine. I do prefer Fels Naptha.)
• 1/2 cup borax
• 1/2 washing soda (This is NOT baking soda. Once again, it may be difficult to find depending on where you live. Country and Mennonite stores generally carry it in their detergent aisle.)

1. Grate the soap into a sauce pan
2. Place pan on medium heat stove, add 6 cups of water and stir until it melts
3. Add the washing soda and borax and stir until it is dissolved
4. Remove from heat
5. Pour 4 cups of hot water into a your storage container (Can be a five gallon bucket, but I use an old kitty litter bucket.)
6. Add your soap mixture and stir
7. Add 21 cups of water and stir
8. Let sit for about 24 hours before using to allow it to gel.

Tips:

• Use 1/2 cups per load
• This will not be liquid or solid, it will be a runny gel texture
• If you are using a clear storage container, it is helpful to mark 4 cups, then soap mixture, then 22 cups of water on the outside of the container so you don't need to measure the 4 cups and 22 cups each time