31 Days of Homemaking - Day 3 - Making My Own Laundry Detergent

I've been wanting to make my own laundry detergent for awhile now.  Laundry detergent is just too expensive.  I found the recipe for a dry/powder laundry detergent on a blog: Being Creative to Keep My Sanity through Pinterest (gotta love it!) that I thought would be the best option for me.  I actually use liquid detergent when I purchase it, but after looking at a couple of homemade liquid detergent recipes it seemed like too much of a hassle.  With the powder detergent, the most work I have to do is grate some soap.

It only takes 1 TBS./load...that's ONE TABLESPOON PER LOAD!!!!  This makes a TON!  It will last for MONTHS and MONTHS!  I'm super excited about this.

This is what you need:
1 - 4lb. box of Borax ($4.09)
1 - 4lb. box of baking soda ($3.38)
1 - 4lb box of washing soda ($3.15)
3 bars of Fels-Naptha soap($1.29 each = $3.87)
1 tub of Oxyclean (I used the Kroger brand, it was half the price of actual Oxyclean and I really like Kroger brand items) ($3.59)

Total = $18.08

(By the way, if you live in Cookeville all of these items are at Kroger in the laundry aisle except for the baking soda...it's in the baking aisle.)

The hardest part of this recipe is that you have to grate all of the bars of Fels-Naptha soap.  I grated the first bar by hand with my grater and decided to do the other 2 with my food processor.  It took a lot less time in the food processor, so if you have one, I'd use it.

Then, you mix all of your ingredients together.  I got a 16qt. Rubbermaid storage container and stirred it in that.  Worked out great.  And, it really does make your house smell so good while you're making it.

I'm washing my first load with it right now.  I'll let you know how it turns out.

(Side note: this detergent will not suds up, so trust you've put in enough)