Sue's Homemade Laundry Detergent

smartblonde #2's Note:

I was given this recipe by a customer where I work. This is very easy to make and you'll love the cost. Broken down (approximately) $7.86 Arm and Hammer Detergent(7.94 lbs), $4.19 20 Mule team borax(76 oz), .72 bar of Ivory, $1.19 bar of Fels. The cost of a bucket of soap is approximately $1.84!!! Also it smells great. Hint- putting soap in freezer for about an hour makes it much easier to grate.

• Total Time: 40 mins
• Prep Time: 40 mins
• Cook Time: 0 mins

Ingredients:

Yield: 15 about 1 ...

• arm and hammer laundry detergent (7.94 lbs)
• 20 mule team borax (76 oz)
• soap bar (1 Ivory 4.5 oz bar)
• soap bar (1 Fels Naptha 5 1/2 oz bar)
• 1 soap bar (Ivory, grated)
• ½ soap bar (Fels Naptha, grated)
• 1 cup laundry detergent (use Arm and Hammer)
• 1 cup borax (use 20-Mule Team)
• 4 cups boiling water

Directions:

1. The first 4 ingredients are what you need to buy. The next 5 are to make the actual recipe.
2. Dissolve soaps and detergent in 5 gallon bucket with 4 cups of boiling water.( I used the paint stirrer and drill for this the 2nd time I made it, it dissolved the ingredients much better than by hand).
3. Once dissolved add another 4 cups of very hot water.
4. Stir well and add enough water to fill 5 gallon bucket to the top.
5. Let sit overnight. Soap will gel up and you will need to stir completely with your hand or use a paint stirrer on the end of a drill. You can fill empty laundry bottles or keep in bucket with a cover.
6. 1 - 5 gallon bucket will make about 80 loads of detergent.
7. ( A little extra math- 1 box of Arm and Hammer, 2 boxes of 20-Mule Team, 15 bars of Ivory and 8 bars of Fels will make about 1200 loads of laundry for about $35.96).
8. Also I bought an inexpensive grater just for the soap. It was suggested to use a food processor but I didn't like doing that.