Laundry Soap

Yes! I do make my own laundry soap....it's SOOOOO easy and SOOOOO cheap!!! It costs about a penny per load! (Based on about 1/4 cup, but even if you use double or triple that, it's only 2 or 3 cents a load :) My friend gave me the recipe and her recipe made 5 gallons! Well, I didn't need QUITE that much so I halved it and it made about 2-1/2 gallons. This is the recipe for 2-1/2 gallons and if you want, you can halve it again, or double it or whatever fits your needs! Otherwise this recipe filled up about 4 (I think?-maybe 3-1/2) empty liquid laundry jugs. I just kept them as they got empty or asked friends for their empty ones, etc.

Laundry Soap
1 bar soap
1 to 1-1/2 cups Borax
1 cup powder laundry detergent
about 2-1/2 gallons water
pail big enough to hold 2-1/2 gallons liquid
*optional--few drops of an essential oil like lavendar to make your clothes smell pretty :)

Directions: Dissolve bar of soap in about 2-3 quarts boiling water. Add Borax and laundry detergent to boiling water. Mix well until all dissolved. Dump into clean pail. Fill rest of pail with warm water to make 2-1/2 gallons. Stir well. Voila! You have a WHOLE bunch of laundry detergent! :)

Notes:
*I use a glycerin bar of soap and that dissolves on it's own in the water, otherwise if you get a bar like irovy or something I'm pretty sure it has to be ground up before you put it in the water.

*You can add more Borax/detergent if you think it's going to be for really soiled clothes (although Nathan's clothes are DIRTY when I wash them and it seems to do just fine!), or add it to the load that you are doing at the time...ex) you are washing a load of heavy soiled whites...well, just add a dash more borax to just that load)

*I wait until the mixture is cooled before I put it into the jugs to store, although I'm not sure if you need to, it's just what I do :)

* I usually use about 3/4 of the cap of the laundry jug per wash, so about 1/2 cup per load.

*The detergent I use is Arm and Hammer Fresh Scent powder detergent.

How I figured the price per load using the ingredients I used:
1 bar of soap= $1.20
Box of borax (55oz) $2.23 = .04/oz x 10 oz = .40/batch
Box of detergent (128 oz) $10.00 = .078/oz x 8oz = .625/batch
1.20 + .40 + .625 = $2.23/batch
2-1/2 gallons = 320 oz/batch
$2.23 / 320 = .00696875 cost per oz .
00696875 x 4oz (1/2 cup soap) = .027875

So a little over 2 cents for 1/2 cup!!! Now THAT'S cheap laundry soap!! 320 oz/4 oz = 80 loads of laundry!! Although if you use 1/4 cup like my friend who gave me the recipe, that's 160 loads!!! Either way, it's a good deal!!

Feel free to pass this on to friends, family etc that might benefit from saving some $$$ on their laundry!!