laundry soap

well it sure isnt a post about a little new baby but i have to do something to keep the time going by, so you get how to make your own laundry soap instead. i have been wanting to make my own laundry detergent for 2 years now after a good friend had given me a recipe they used and liked. she is a super talented lady with a blog of her own, check her out here.

any how.... i was determined to make it with the kids this summer as it seemed like a project they would get excited about so i put it on the summer "to do" list. after two years i had misplaced heathers recipe so i just looked online for one. there are tons of resources for it but this is one i found. it seemed just like heathers so i went for it.

here are the ingredients:

* 1 bar of soap- one website said to use fels-naptha, a special laundry stain removing soap found in the laundry section of your grocery store. other websites said to use whatever soap you wanted.

* 1/2 cup of borax- also found in the laundry section

* 1 cup of arm and hammer WASHING soda- not the same as baking soda

* about 3 gallons of water

* you will also need a five gallon bucket, a long spoon to stir, a large pot to boil some water and soap, and a cheese grater.
step 1. put about 4 cups of water into the pan on the stove and bring to boil. while you are doing this, grate the entire bar of soap into little bits. after the water boils, add the shredded soap to the pot in small amounts. stir until it is all melted.
step 2: get your large bucket and add three gallons of warm tap water to it. to this bucket add your dry ingredients first. the 1/2 cup of borax and the cup of washing soda. stir well.

step 3: then add the liquid mixture you made on the stove to the large bucket. above is a picture of the kids stirring the final mixture.

you're done! super easy! the consistency of mine was pretty slimmy and as you let it sit it would form a thick layer on top. so make sure to mix your soap before each use.
step 4: instead of leaving my soap in the large bucket i wanted to pour it into smaller containers. you can use saved laundry bottles or in my case i used old juice jugs. there is still enough left in my big bucket to fill another two gallon juice jugs! this makes a ton. i also thought it would be easier to shake each time than stir the large bucket each time.

you use one cup of detergent per load and supposedly this is perfectly safe for HE washers, because it is low sudsing, lets hope so since that is what we have.

i got a lot of reactions on FB when i posted about the laundry soap. if any of you have tried it, share your thoughts here in the comments so everyone can benefit for your knowledge.