Home Made Laundry Detergent

Homemade Laundry Soap

Ingredients:

⅓ bar Fels Naptha, Zote, or homemade lye soap (any good laundry soap bar will work)

½ cup Washing Soda

½ cup Borax

Directions: 

For Liquid Gel - Grate the soap and put it in a sauce pan.  Add 6 cups water and heat it until the soap melts.  Add the washing soda and the borax and stir until it is dissolved.  Remove from heat.  Pour 4 cups hot water into the mixture and stir well - pour into large jars or a bucket (I use gallon ice cream bucket or large gallon wide mouth jar. If the mix is lumpy or separates too quickly you can use a hand mixer or stick blender (I have an old stick blender that I use exclusively for soap making). Mixture will gel firm after sitting for several hours - use a smaller container by your machine - I have a quart sized plastic bottle with a pour top - use one half mixture and one half water and shake well before each use. Start with a couple tablespoons up to 1/4 cup for heavy soil - I have never had to use more than 1/4 cup. 

NOTE:  You can actually use this recipe to make up to 5 gallons of detergent by adding more water. But the detergent is very thin and you have to use a lot more per load. No problem if you have room to store the 5 gallon bucket, but I prefer the one gallon and making in concentrate. I have always just blended the first gallon batch, but if you consistently have lumping and it won't mix then make two gallons... split the recipe between two gallon buckets, add water to the top and blend til smooth. It will still be concentrated so use maybe 1/4 to 1/3 cup per load.

For Powdered - Grate the soap fine, add the soda and borax and mix well. Use 1 to 2 tsp per load. I grate the soap with a cheese grater and then grind in an old coffee grinder when mixed together to get a very fine powder - it dissolves better in the machine. I don't like the powder, so I have only made it one time.