Laundry Soap

By request, I'm posting my tutorial on DIY laundry soap. Try it...it will change your life!

A few important things to know:
1.) This is safe to use in regular and HE washers.

2.) While the initial ingredients have a pleasant "soapy" scent, there is no fragrance added to any of them. That means your laundry will not have that "laundry soap" smell when it finished washing. Your clothes will just smell CLEAN. And I can't really describe that to you. You'll see what I mean.

3.) These ingredients are all natural, with no added chemicals. It's kind of like using Tide-Free, without the price tag. It is safe for sensitive skin...at least I have yet to hear of someone who reacted badly to it, and I give this away to anyone in the world who wants to try it.

4.) The Downy-Ball Vinegar rinse is completely optional. But I highly recommend it.

5.) This is my recipe for powdered detergent. I can give you the directions for the liquid version if you prefer, but truly it adds an extra hour to the process, and I'm all about saving time, people. The powder works perfectly, and I've never had a problem with residue.

Okay, here we go.

Go buy these ingredients:

These are the prices at my local Wal-Mart:
Borax - $2.39
Arm and Hammer Super Washing Soda - $3.19
Fels-Naptha Soap - $0.97

I buy about 8 bars of soap at a time, because you can usually make the detergent that many times before the boxes run out. The first time I bought this, I got the soap on sale 2/$1, which made me even happier. Now I watch it from time to time to see if I can catch it on sale again and stock up.

Step One:
Grate the bar of Fels-Naptha soap very finely into a bowl. I use a microplane grater that I got at, (you guessed it) Wal-Mart for $2.99. It is important that the soap is very finely shredded - the smaller the better.

This will take a little while; sometimes the girls will work on it for me in the kitchen while I'm working, but mostly I like to sit with a bowl in my lap and grate soap while I'm watching something on TV.

Step Two:
Pour 1 cup of Arm and Hammer Super Washing Soda and 1 cup of Borax into the bowl with the soap shavings. Stir well.

And...that's it. Well, there's an optional Step Three. If you prefer your powder to be really really fine, you can blend all ingredients in a blender. The consistency gets really really powdery, and some people prefer that. I personally like to be done after Step Two.

I bought a cute little white canister with a measuring spoon attached to the side of it. I pour all the soap in the canister, and use the spoon to scoop it into the washer.

Here's the best part...

It only takes 1 Tablespoon of this mixture to do a load of laundry. Seriously!

Finally, here's my last best-kept-secret.

You know those blue plastic Downy balls? I bought one ($1.99 Wal-Mart special!) and I fill it with vinegar. That's right, vinegar. No, really, you heard me correctly. Vinegar. Just fill it up, pull the little plug tight, and there you go.

I drop that ball in with the load and hit start. The vinegar will leave no smell, and also is the best fabric softener known to mankind. For real, I am not kidding, I swear to you it is true.

**ADDITION**
After lots of trial and error, I have added 1 cup of regular Baking Soda to my mix - it seems to be just the right thing for the hard odors!