Homemade Laundry Soap

I've always heard about making your own laundry soap.  After a little research, I discovered it wasn't only easy to make, it was VERY inexpensive!  This is right up my alley!

Here are the ingredients for the laundry soap:

1/3 bar of Fels Naptha (or Zote or Ivory)
1/2 cup of washing soda (not baking soda)
1/2 cup Borax
10 drops of Lemon essential oil (you can use whatever essential oil you would like for fragrance)

I found the ingredients in the laundry soap aisle in my local Walmart store.  Here is the process to make the soap:

Grate the soap and put it in a large sauce pan.  Add 6 cups of water and heat it until the soap dissolves.  Add the washing soda and Borax and stir until it is dissolved.  Remove from heat.  Pour 4 cups of hot water into the pan and stir.  Add 1 gallon plus 5 cups of water and stir.  Let this sit for about 24 hours and it will gel.  After 24 hours, put it into a large bucket.  This recipe makes about 2.5 gallons of laundry soap - a cost of about .03 per load!

This recipe does not make a lot of suds but that is OK because suds are not what cleans your clothes!
Use about 1/2 cup per load of laundry.  Very easy and cost effective!