Don't Eat This. It's Laundry Soap.

So, I'd never heard of- or thought of-

homemade laundry detergent! ? ! ?

Several weeks ago, a friend of mine posted a recipe

on Facebook which looked super-duper easy peasie.

As soon as my bottle of detergent was empty,

I made my own laundry detergent.

(Still now, just saying/typing this sentence makes me

feel like I'm pretending to be someone else...

I'm SO not a DIY-er.)

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But...

It is pretty dang AWESOME!

It took less than an hour,

cost less than $10 dollars,

and will make 40+ gallons of liquid soap.

(5 gallons at a time, or less/more if you like).

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I made my first batch just over 2 months ago, and

still haven't had to make more.

This has saved us a ton of $$$, and it has been totally worth it.

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-Though I will admit, I may consider trying the powder version too-

I've seen that recipe, which is similar, but haven't tried it yet.-

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OK, here it is:

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What you'll need:

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*5 gallon bucket & lid (at ACE this was less than $4

and you won't have to buy one again)

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*2 bars of soap (any kind- your detergent will be the

color and scent of this soap, so choose a scent you like)

(on the online recipe, there's a no-scent soap that you can use,

too, and then add essential oils to have it smell however you want)

-I used the white Dial this time, which is a little bland-

I may use Irish Spring next time cuz I love that smell ;)

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*water

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*1 box Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soap

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*1 box Borax (both of these ingredients I found at the end/bottom

of the laundry aisle, and each was about 3-4 bucks.

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*An empty laundry detergent jug. Or any bowl, jar, etc. you'd like

to keep it in as you use it.

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*You may want a 5-gallon size paint stirring stick to mix-

some stores will give one to you free with the bucket.

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DIRECTIONS:

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1. Shred 2 bars of soap any kind and stir into 4 cups water

over med heat until it melts down (this takes some time- the bigger

your soap pieces, the longer it'll take to melt down. My advice is

to shred/grate as small as you can- some people have even used

their food processors for this.)

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2. Fill a 5 gallon bucket ½ full and add 1 cup Borax

and 1 cup Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soap

(I did this while I was stirring my soap/water mixture)

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3. Add bar soap mixture to bucket, stir and fill the rest

 of the way full with water

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4. Let sit overnight. In the morning it'll look like there are

gooey blobs floating around- there are.  Don't freak,

it's supposed to look like that. Stir it up again. 

(You may also use a whisk or even run some through

a strainer to beat up the goo.)

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5. This is concentrate. Mix it ½ and ½ with water

(**I mix it about 2/3 concentrate to 1/3 water, just because I wanted to)

in your container/jug voila- laundry detergent for days weeks!

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Note: it's not as lovely and smooth as store-bought detergent-

it's a bit lumpy and stuff... but that's how it's supposed to look

and it works like a gem!  I have totally loved it.

Mostly cuz of the  $$$ I'm not spending on soap!