Homemade Liquid Laundry Detergent

I finally did it....finally broke down and tried the liquid laundry detergent recipe from the Duggar Family website! I've used about 1/2 gallon so far and I like just as well as the store bought but I LOVE the price! I was clipping coupons, but this is even cheaper than taking time to clip coupons and not much more trouble. I spent $8 on the supplies and it made about 10 gallons. I think the next time I may cut back a little on the water because it was pretty thin. I measured it out into gallon jugs before pouring into liquid laundry detergent bottles I had saved up. That way I could measure exactly & shake well before pouring into bottles. I didn't add any essential oils for fragrance, but I'm thinking I may try some lavender and vanilla some time. I will let you know the amounts when I try it. I tried a recipe for fabric softener and I'm not too thrilled with it, so I am still on the lookout for a good fabric softener recipe. Next on the agenda....homemade dishwasher liquid! Here's the recipe I used for the laundry detergent:

Ingredients:

4  Cups - hot tap water
1  Fels-Naptha soap bar
1 Cup Arm & Hammer Super Washing soda
½ Cup Borax

I found all these items at wal-mart in the laundry detergent aisle for less than $8 total. The next time you make soap, all you will have to buy is another bar of soap for about $2. There was plenty of both to make several recipes of this.

Grate the entire bar of soap and add to about 4 cups of hot water on stove. Stir continually over medium-low heat until soap dissolves and is melted. Stir slowly so you won't get a bunch of bubbles!

When the soap has completely dissolved, fill a 5 gallon bucket half full of hot water. Add melted soap, Super washing soda & Borax. Stir well until everything is mixed. (I used a big wood dowel I had on hand to stir but may get a paint mixer attachment for the drill next time.) Fill bucket almost to the top with more hot water. Stir again, cover and let sit overnight to thicken.

The next morning, stir again and fill container half full with soap and then fill rest of way with water. Shake before each use. (this is where I used the gallon milk jug. I measured out 1/2 gallon of water, poured it into the jug, then marked the halfway point with a sharpie. That way I could pour the detergent concentrate to the fill mark, then fill with water.)

If you want,  you can add your favorite essential oil to the containers.

This recipe makes 10 gallons.

To use:

Top Load Machine- 5/8 Cup per load (Approx. 180 loads)

Front Load Machines- ¼ Cup per load (Approx. 640 loads)