Laundry Soap

I was so skeptical of this stuff.  Not any more... I've seen old stains come out. And my whites are brighter. And it's not that I was using shoddy detergent before. 

Grate one bar of Fels Naptha Soap into a kettle of hot water.  Let this dissolve.

Ok, I so could not find Fels Naptha soap the first time I made this and I used Ivory.  It was fine.  This week when I made it for the second time I did have the Fels Naptha soap it was much harder to grait. (I found it at Shady Maple Grocery Store in the laundry section)

Mix one cup of borax and one cup of washing soda in a 5 gallon bucket with warm water. 
Add the dissolved bar of soap and hot water to the bucket, stir it together, and fill the rest of the bucket with hot/warm water. 

Let it sit over night and it will gel.  Stir it up and  you are ready to do your wash!

I sit the bucket on a table that is beside my washing machine and keep a big handled mug there to scoopt it out with.  My friend Christine pours hers into emtpy detergent containters.  Whatever floats your boat.  Then you and your washer have to figure out how much to use.  I think I use about a cup per load. 

I found the Borax at walmart with the dryer sheets maybe?

The Washing Soda was harder to find.  Dutch Way in the laundry section.

They sell buckets near the lawn and garden at walmart if you don't have one.

Some people use a recipe similar to this one but they keep all of the ingredients dry... I might try it that way someday.  I kind of prefer liquid as general rule though... I think I've heard that some people use their food processer to make sure the bar of soap is grated very fine... I suppose you could do all three ingredients together in your food processer? 

It took me a while to get over having to use my grater and my kettle with a huge bar of soap... the Ivory was grosser in this way as it was more slimy.