Homemade Laundry Soap

I've been thinking about making homemade supplies for a long time.....And thanks to pinterest I finally did it!  I started out with homemade laundry soap.

It was easy & didn't take long at all...And most of all-it saves LOTS of money!  We go through at least 2 big bottles of laundry soap a week.  I do, on average (the days when I'm too exhausted to walk up and down the stairs and face the basement & the days that we have all run out of clothes & am considering telling the boys to just turn their underwear inside out) 3-4 FULL loads of laundry a day. That comes out to over 1000 loads of laundry a year!! 

I read a blog about a mom who also did the homemade laundry soap...It only takes a tablespoon per load.  She did 8 loads of laundry a week and it lasted 9 months! That means it will do 288 loads of laundry.  That means I will have to make it 5 times a year...or less if I double the batch size.  It costs me around $20 for all the ingredients. So...I will be saving at least $188 a year!!!  (Who says a early childhood teacher can't do math!)

Here's the deal.....  You need 5 ingredients:

* a 4lb 12 oz box of Borax
* a 4lb box of Arm & Hammer Baking Soda (I had to use a 2-2lb boxes)
* a 55ox box of Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda
*3 bars of soap....In the recipe I found it said Fels-naptha soap, but after doing some research, any type will work
* About 3.5 lb of Oxyclean

You grate the 3 bars of soap...I was lucky enough to have Iron Man help me out! (and it's a good fine motor skill for him too).

Then you put a clean trash bag in a big bucket and mix all ingredients.

Tada!!!  Your done.  Use a tablespoon...I think I used a little more than that.  And it makes a ton!  I just used containers around the house and it filled up these three!  Happy Washing!