Homemade Laundry Soap

I've had a ton of requests for this, so I thought I should get it put up as quickly as possible. It's a variation on the recipe that my friend Terra Vail gave me. I added an extra bar of soap because it's just easier to remember 2/2/2 for the recipe, so you could get away with only using one bar.


Laundry detergent

1 quart Water (boiling)
2 cups Bar soap (your preference of brand, grated)
2 cups Borax
2 cups Washing Soda

• Add finely grated bar soap to the boiling water and stir until soap is melted. Careful! It WILL boil over if the flame is too high. Best to keep it on low heat until soap is melted.
• Pour the soapy water into a clean 5-gallon pail and add the Borax and Washing Soda. Stir well until all is dissolved. (I use a wand mixer to make sure it's well and truly combined. It also helps the mixture gel up faster this way.)
• Add 4 gallons of warm water, and stir again until well mixed.
• Cover pail or recycle old laundry soap containers by filling them with your homemade soap. Use 1/2 cup for each load of laundry. Stir the soap each time you use it (it will gel).