Homemade Liquid Laundry Soap...Duggar Style

Do you hate spending $20.00 on laundry detergent?  I do if you ask me! So just as I was adding it to my shopping list, Pinterest, The Duggars, and my friend inspired me to not spend that ridiculous amount of moola and just to make it myself and never buy Tide or Dreft again!! I was sold on this idea.  Matt, maybe not exactly and thought I was crazy, but what's new?  So we headed to Walmart and got the ingredients.



What you need: 1 bar of Fals-Naptha laundry soap ($0.97), 1 box of Borax ($3.38), 1 box of Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda ($3.24).  These are all located in the laundry, next to each other, and on the same shelf. 



You also need a 5 gallon bucket which I got for free from the bakery.



Step 1: Grate the Fels-Naptha bar into saucepan with 4 cups water.



Step 2: Warm over medium heat until smooth and all soap particles are dissolved.


 

Step 3: Fill the 5 gallon bucket 1/2 full with hot water.

  

Step 4: Add 1 cup of Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda to the bucket of water.

 

Step 5: Add 1/2 cup of Borax to the bucket of water. 

 

Step 6: Add the melted soap to the bucket and stir until all ingredients are completely disolved.

:


Step 7: Place the lid on the bucket and let sit overnight.  It will cool and thicken to a gel.
This is normal. 




Step 8:  Fill a clean container or emply detergent bottle 1/2 full with soap.
Fill the rest of the way with water.  Shake before each use.





And "Ta Da!"  You're done! Now are you ready for the breakdown? You won't believe it.  Total cost is $1.71 and this will get you 640 loads!!! This should last me a year hopefully!! And I can even share!! And you even have leftover ingredients to make all sorts of other household cleaning products to save you money and trips to the store. Can you believe it? I can't wait to figure out what's next on my list so I can quit my part time job:)

Some of my questions were:
1. Can you use it with a HE front load washer?  Yes I have a GE Profile Steam
2. Can I make it scented?  Yes you can add 10-15 drops of oils found in the
    laundry isle if you wish, but for now I'm sticking with the Fresh Scent.
3. How long does it take?  The longest and hardest part was grating the    
    bar of soap.  I put my hubby to work on this part, but 30 minutes total!
4. Have I tried it yet?  Yes I'm on my 3rd load and am extremely satisfied! 
5. Another timesaver is, if you have a machine that adjusts the time of each
    load automatically, you will save time on the rinsing cycle due to less
    sudsing.

Here is the link: http://www.duggarfamily.com/content/duggar_recipes/30455/homemade_liquid_laundry_soap_front_or_top_load_machine_best_value