Homemade Laundry Detergent..WOW! Why didn't I try this earlier?

 I tried my hand at making my own laundry soap for the very first time. Now that I've done it I really don't know why I haven't been doing this for years. It smells so fresh and clean, it's such a huge savings financially, and it's so quick! Quicker than having to run to the store even. The picture above is all that I used minus the bowl and spoon. The items include a grater (I bought 1 specifically for this job), gloves, Borax, Ivory soap BARS, and Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda. I found everything except for the Super Washing Soda at my Wal-Mart. I had to go to Smith's/Kroger to find it, but others have found it at Wal-Mart, too.

 We started by grating the soap bars on the littlest holes. Soap is much easier to grate than even cheese. 3 bars

 Before putting the borax in I put on my gloves, and I did NOT have my daughter do this part or the next part. I'm sure it would have been fine, but I like to be safe. I don't even know if you need the gloves, but I used them. 3 Cups

 Last ingredient. 3 Cups

 

Stir and stir. You're done!

Recipe:

3 Bars of Ivory Soap- normal- no added scents, etc.

3 Cups of Borax

3 Cups of Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda

I use 1 heaping Tablespoon per load for normal soil. For heavy soil I would add a couple of Tablesoons. I expect to save between 50-75% vs. the laundry soap I was purchasing. You can add vinegar in a downy ball of in the fabric softener cup if you like your clothes super soft. If your clothes come out stiff you have used too much. detergent. :) I'm using mine in a front loader HE washer.

P.S. My husband asked me to only use this for the kid's wash. Apparently. he was skeptical. However, after he smelled the detergent he changed his mind. LOL Now I wash all of our clothes in the detergent.

I should also add that I didn't come up with this recipe all on my own. It's a pretty common one floating around on the WWW.