We've been making and using homemade laundry soap for over a year now. We love it.
It works really well. People who have sensitive skin love it.
And the #1 reason to love it is because it's VERY
INEXPENSIVE. $2.00 for 640 loads of laundry.
Another bonus is that you can store the ingredients in a small space vs. storing bottles and bottles of laundry soap.
Here's the method I use. Let me know if you have any questions.
Ingredients & Supplies for Homemade Laundry Soap / Detergent:
I store all of my ingredients and supplies in my 5 gallon bucket in my garage.
-- 1/2 cup Borax
-- 1 bar of Fels-Naptha soap (I buy this at WalMart for $1 per bar.)
-- 1 cup Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda (I buy this at Smith’s. Baking Soda will not work, nor will Arm & Hammer Detergent - It must be sodium carbonate.)
-- Bottles to store soap in.
We save the
gallon apple juice containers to store our homemade laundry soap in. You will need 10 of them.
I fill an apple juice container with 2 quarts (1/2 a gallon) of water and mark the 1/2 way point with a sharpie.
Then I add 2 more quarts of water and make a mark that says "fill " at the gallon point. I do this on 1 empty bottle and then eyeball it on the other bottles.
After we use all of the soap in a bottle we save it for the next time we make the homemade laundry soap.
--Hand grater
I bought a grater that I just use just to grate the soap at the Dollar Store.
-- Funnel to pour soap into bottles.
I use an oil funnel I picked up at WalMart for $1.50. We have several of these that also work great as bath and beach toys.
-- Beach shovel to stir mixture with (see photo below). This is the best item I have found to do the stirring with.
--
5 gallon bucket to mix everything in.
Recipe for Homemade Laundry Soap / Detergent:
1. Grate bar of soap with a hand grater.
It will look like a pile of cheese.
2. Add grated soap to saucepan with 4 cups of water.
Stir continually over medium-low heat until soap dissolves and is melted.
I use an old pan just for soap making.
3. Fill 5 gallon bucket 1/2 way with hot water.
I do this in my bathtub so I can get a large volume of really hot water.
Instead of trying to guess where the 1/2 way mark is I measure 2.5 gallons, and mark the 1/2 way point with a Sharpie.
4. Add melted soap, 1 cup washing soda and 1/2 cup Borax to bucket halfway full of water.
Stir well until all powder is dissolved.
Fill bucket with 2.5 more gallons of hot water.
I stir it with a large kid’s beach shovel.
5. Stir, cover with a dishtowel or bucket lid and let sit overnight to thicken.
I just leave the bucket in the bathtub overnight.
6. Re-stir in the morning and fill empty bottles 1/2 full of homemade laundry soap.
Since the bucket is really heavy, I just do this process in the bathroom.
I use a funnel to pour the soap into the bottles.
7. Add water until bottles are full. 50% soap mixture / 50% water.
Shake well before each use as soap will gel.
Yield: Makes 10 gallons of soap.
Front Load Machine: 1/4 cup per load (Approx. 640 loads for $2.00)
I keep a 1/4 cup measuring cup in my laundry room for measuring.
Top Load Machine: 5/8 cup per load (Approx. 180 loads for $2.00)
Yesterday I took Jasper and two of his (girl) friends to a park near their house. Amador Vista Park is definitely a new favorite for us.
I made the mistake of wheeling my three amigos down the ice cream isle (yes, I made them all sit in the cart.)
Jasper LOVES to add all of the ingredients himself, and blend it all up (with supervision.) 
Thursday morning we drove down to Phoenix for the wedding festivities of Scott Bennett, Mike's best friend from Law School at the University of Tulsa. 
I really the photos that I took of Shawnda's daughter Tirzah standing near her mom, in the shadow of her wedding veil.After the wedding they had brunch, and Jasper was so happy see that it included doughnuts and cinnamon rolls. More breakfast favorites.
-- 1/2 cup Borax
1. Grate bar of soap with a hand grater. 
