5 Gallons of Laundry Detergent - $2.00!!

My sister-in-law gave me some laundry detergent to try, that she had made herself! I was pleasantly surprised to see how well it worked, and had to ask her what she did. Well - she got the recipe from a cookbook her sister's church put together. The recipe makes 5 gallons of detergent - that should last me a little while :)

All you need are these three ingredients and water!

It looks a bit like runny jello, or maybe more like lemonade with lots of pulp, but all the little jelly parts dissolve in the wash.

Here is the recipe:

HOMEMADE LIQUID LAUNDRY SOAP
4 cups hot tap water
1 Sunlight soap bar
1 cup washing soda
1/2 cup Borax

Grate bar of soap and add to saucepan with water. Stir continually over medium-low heat until soap dissolves and is melted. Fill a 5 gallon bucket 1/2 full of hot tap water. Add melted soap, washing soda and Borax. Stir well until all powder is dissolved. Fill bucket to top with more hot water. Stir, cover and let sit overnight to thicken. Stir and fill a used, clean, laundry soap dispensers. Shake before each use (will gel).

Optional: You may add 10-15 drops of essential oil/2 gallons. Add once soap is cooled.

Recipe cost approximately $2.00!!
Top Lad machine - use 5/8 cup per load.
Front load machine - 1/4 cup per load.

I have a large front load machine, and I'm using about 1/3 cup per load (do really large loads). I also managed to find enough containers at the local thrift shop to put all the detergent in :) Didn't want to be scooping out of the 5 gallon pail, or have someone bump it and have it tip over! There is a slight lemony scent when you first open the container the detergent is in, but once the clothes are washed - you can't smell anything. Try it!! It's amazing how well it works and how little it costs!

Addition: I should mention that my sister-in-laws Dad is a mechanic and gets his clothes quite dirty some days. She lets the stains soak in a bit of detergent for a while before she throws them in the wash. Apparently it works as well or better than SHOUT!

The recipe does call for filling containers 1/2 full with detergent - then adding enough water to fill the container. Everyone I've talked too didn't do it, thought the detergent was to diluted then. I did end up adding a little water to mine, just because it was almost the consistency of jello and hard to get into containers with small openings (using milk jugs, they fit nice into the washing machine drawer)

Have a wonderful Saturday!