Laundry Soap

I saw that one of my friends made her own laundry soap and that it was super cheap, so I decided to try. I used the recipe that is shown here. It is really easy and I found most of the ingredients in Walmart (except the washing soda)Ingredients:
1 1/2 c. 20 Mule Team Borax
1 1/2 c. Washing Soda
Bar Soap
*note washing soda is NOT baking soda. I couldn't find washing soda in walmart. I wasn't sure where to get it, but looked online and found that you can buy it at your local swimming pool supply store. I got mine at Brady's here in Pocatello. It is also known as Soda Ash. When I asked about it, the guy at the store asked me what it was for and I told him I was going to make laundry soap, and he thought I was a little crazy. All they had is a 50 lb bag of it, which is a lot when all I needed was 1 1/2 cups, so I won't have to buy washing soda for the next 10 years at least! With the bar soap, I used Zote. It is a bar laundry soap that is cheap, I got it for 97 cents. Another popular soap to use is Fels-Naptha bar soap. You can use any kind of bar soap you want. That is what your clothes will smell like. I read some where that Zote or the Fels-Naptha get your clothes the cleanest. They are made to wash clothes, so they are probably the best to use. Just get them in the laundry isle along with the borax.

*UPDATE* I was in Winco the other day, and I found washing soda there, so if Wal-mart doesn't have it, your grocery store probably does. Also, if you use Ivory soap or just regular bar soap, your clothes don't get as clean, so it is best to use the Zote or the Fels-Naptha soap, both found in the laundry isle of the store.

1. Grate the soap into 18 c. of water. Heat the water on the stove until the soap is melted.
2. Add the washing soda. Stir until dissolved.

3. Add the borax. Sir until dissolved.
4. In a 5 gallon bucket, add 3 gallons of water. In the video, the recipe says to add 4 gallons and 2 cups, but when I added the 3 gallons (it might have been 3 1/2 gallons) and then the soap mixture, my 5 gallon bucket was pretty full.

5. Stir the mixture and then put a lid on and let set for 24 hours. After 24 hours, it will be a gel like watery mixture. Mix well, and then it is ready to use. Use 1/2 c. for top load washers and 1/4 c. for front load washers. I used about 3/4 c. for my top load washer. This laundry soap is supposedly comparable to Tide. Tide costs about 20 cents per load. This laundry soap costs about 2.5 cents per load. A HUGE savings. I just did my laundry yesterday, and it worked great! There is also a powdered version of this soap that if you search online you can find. It is slightly more expensive than this, but still dirt cheap.