Homemade Laundry Detergent.

     In my quest for a more self-sufficient life (and also a quest to rid our life of all of the chemicals found in commercial products) I have tried numerous different recipes for homemade laundry detergent. I wanted to take a moment tonight to share my favorite one with you. This recipe is for powdered detergent, NOT liquid. Hubby and I are both pretty picky about our laundry detergent. It MUST clean well and it MUST leave the clothing smelling good!  Enjoy! =)

What you will need:
(1) 4 lb. box of Baking Soda.
(2) 14 oz. bars of Fels Naptha or Zote soap.
(1) 4 lb. 12 oz. box of Borax.
(1) 3 lb. 7 oz. box of Washing Soda.
(1) 3 lb. tub of OxyClean.
(2) 55 oz. bottles of Purex Fabric Softener Crystals. (Optional, but it's my fav ingredient- it makes the clothes smell soooo good and keeps you from having to use separate fabric softener or fabric softener sheets.)
Large bucket with lid (5 gallon is best.)
Mixing spoon- wooden or plastic.

Directions:

• Grate the 2 bars of soap using a hand-grater or food processor. The smaller/finer, the better.

• To save a bunch of time trying to mix everything up, I highly recommend that you LAYER all of the ingredients a little bit at a time into the 5 gallon bucket. For example- pour 1/3 of the grated soap, then 1/3 of  baking soda, 1/3 of the Borax, 1/3 of the Washing Soda, 1/3 of the OxyClean, and 1/3 of the Purex Crystals (in no particular order). Repeat 2 more times, until all of the ingredients are in the bucket.

• Mix well with the mixing spoon.

• Use 1 TBS of detergent for a Small-Medium sized load of laundry and 2 TBS for a Large Load. 

(Helpful hint: save the lid/cap from one of the bottles of Purex crystals- inside the cap you will see 3 lines. The middle/center line is exactly 2 TBS! You may also choose to keep 1 of the bottles, fill it up with detergent, and keep it by your washing machine instead of having to keep the big 5 gallon bucket there. Then you can store the big bucket away and re-fill your bottle as needed.)