Cousin Kathy's Liquid Laundry Detergent

Here it is...as promised. :) These are the pictures I took when I made my first, and so far only, batch. In July. There is still more than half of the 5 gallon bucket left and I still have most of the box of both the washing soda and borax! It was less than a new 128 oz. jug of Tide/Gain/Dreft, etc for the materials.

The Ingredients:

First, grate the bar of soap. 

(Which in Houston I could only find at Wal-Mart. Target, Kroger and HEB didn't have it.)

Second, screech at your son that it's soap not cheese and to put the clump back down.

Third, add to a saucepan with 4 cups of hot tap water. 

Stir continually over medium heat until the soap dissolves and is melted.

Next, fill a (clean) 5 gallon bucket halfway with hot tap water. 

Then, add the melted soap, 1.5 cups of washing soda and 1.5 cups of borax.

Stir well until everything is dissolved.

Fill the bucket to the top with more tap water, stir, cover, and let it sit overnight to thicken.

Last, stir the soap again. then take an empty detergent bottle (the one I have is 128 oz), fill it halfway with the soap and then fill it the rest of the way with water. 

Make sure to shake it before each use! (And then chuckle at all the money you're saving.)

For a top loading machine use 5/8 of a cup, in a front loading machine, 1/4 of a cup. 

[I measured the 5/8 into the cap of the bottle I was using the first time and then I knew where to fill it without checking after that.]

In the end it makes 10 gallons. That's it, you're done!

If you prefer dry, powdered detergent you might also be able to just mix 2 cups of grated soap, 1 cup borax and 1 cup washing soda. Use 1 or 2 Tablespoons per load. 

(One of her friends suggested that as it takes up much less space. I've never tried it mostly because I prefer liquid. Also, Houston is humid and I'm afraid it  might get cakey or gummy, and our machine doesn't always dissolve everything like it should. But, in the interest of full disclosure...)

Here is the "recipe" all together.

Ingredients:
1 Fels Naptha Soap Bar
4 cups hot tap water
1.5 cups super washing soda
1.5 cups borax
1 store-bought laundry detergent bottle, cleaned and emptied
1 5 gallon paint bucket, cleaned and emptied

• Grate the bar of soap 
• Add to a saucepan with the 4 cups of hot tap water. 
• Stir continually over medium heat until the soap dissolves and has melted.
• Fill the 5 gallon bucket halfway with hot tap water, then add the melted soap, washing soda and borax.
• Stir well until everything is dissolved.
• Fill the bucket to the top with more tap water, stir, cover, and let it sit overnight to thicken.
• Stir the soap again. then take an empty detergent bottle, fill it halfway with the soap and then fill it the rest of the way with water. 
• Shake before each use.