Homemade Laundry Soap

I have been making my own laundry soap for 3 or 4 years now.  I have tried many recipes.  I have made liquid, gel and powdered.  This is my absolute favorite recipe.

Ingredients:
2 Bars of Fels-Naptha
1/2 cup Oxy-clean (I often just use the cheaper brand.)
1 cup of powdered Tide or any powdered detergent that is on sale (HM detergent can cause whites to turn gray if you have hard water, which I have, a little bit of Tide solves that problem.)
2 cups of Washing Soda (Not Baking Soda)
2 cups of Borax
Optional:  1 Tbsp of Dawn dish soap
                1 bottle of Downy or Purex Scent Booster
                 A few drops of essential oil

Grate up your two bars of Fels-Naptha with a beat-up old box grater.

Toss your soap slivers into your food processor and add the Tide and Oxy-clean.  Then pulse until...

the little slivers are broken up and mixed with the powders, making it a sand-like texture. If you want to add a grease busting boost, add a tablespoon of your favorite dish soap and pulse more.  If you want more scent, add a few drops of your favorite essential oil and pulse again.

Dump the mixture into a big bowl and add the borax and washing soda.  Sometimes the borax can be clumpy, sifting it helps, but if you don't want to mess with that, just give it a good stir.  Stir it until it is completely mixed in. At this point, you could also stir in the Downy or Purex Scent Booster. It really is fine without it, but if you like your laundry to have a stronger scent, this will do it.

Transfer it into your handy dandy container and toss in a measuring scoop.  For a regular washing machine, you will add 2 Tablespoons into the running water.  For an He machine, you will use 1 Tablespoon.

This is what it looks like with the Downy Scent Boosters mixed in.

 Making homemade laundry soap saves me quite a bit of money.  One recipe lasts about 2 months.  When I can find the ingredients on sale and purchase it with coupons, it is even less expensive!  I like that I am aware of the product and can control the ingredients.  I hope that by making up my own, I am exposing my family to fewer harmful chemicals.  I do know that this recipe has given our sensitive skin no complaints.

Spending less on home care products allows you to have a little more grocery money, which is always a good thing!

~Rebecca