DIY - Laundry Detergent

In today's economy it is important to save every cent you can. A firm believer in the do it yourself philosophy; I decided to try and find a recipe for laundry detergent. I read several variations and after much thought landed on the recipe below. The original recipe comes from the blog http://duggarsblog.blogspot.com/2011/03/duggar-recipe-liquid-laundry-soap.html. Although the ingredients are the same, I added to the instructions based on my own personal experience. My first attempt at making the detergent went quite smoothly. I was impressed with how well this detergent cleaned our clothes and how it left them smelling fresh. Hopefully my experience and the recipe below inspires those reading this article to try some of their own do it yourself projects to save some money.

Liquid Laundry Soap Recipe

(Picture above is only half of the laundry soap!)

Ingredients

1 Bar Fels-Naptha (97 cents at my local Walmart)
1 Cup Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda (55 oz box approx. 3.50 at my local Walmart)
1/2 Cup Borax (76 oz box approx. 3.50 at my local Walmart)
Tap Water (Free)

Helpful Tools

Cheese Grater
Medium Size Pot
Long Wooden Spoon
5 Gallon Bucket with Top (Can be found at Walmart in the paint section)
Funnel
Ladle
Old Laundry Detergent Bottles

Directions

Step 1 Prepare and Melt your soap
Using your cheese grater shred the bar of Fels-Naptha into your Medium sized pot.
Next, add enough water to cover your soap in the pot.
Over Medium heat melt your soap, stirring continuously until it is a uniform liquid.



Step 2 Combine your Ingredients
Fill half of your 5 gallon bucket with hot water.
Next, add the melted soap, washing soda and borax to bucket.
Fill the bucket with more hot water so that it is almost full. Note that if you fill it to close to the top of the bucket you will have a great deal of spilling when you try to stir.
Stir until the soap and water is thoroughly mixed.
Place the cover on the bucket and allow it to sit over night. This will allow your soap mixture to thicken.



Step 3 Fill the containers with your new Laundry Detergent
When you remove the cover it may look like gelatin.
Stir the contents until the lumpy gelatin is blended, this will take a great amount of stirring.
Ladle the mixture into an empty detergent bottle, the funnel will help you to avoid spilling.
Ladle enough of the soap into the container until it's half full.
Next, you will add hot water until the container is full.
This next step is very important, you must shake the containers to combine the soap and water.
Over time, the contents may try to separate. This can be prevented by occasionally shaking the containers.