A DIY Project

The following post has nothing to do with anything...

...which is why it fits perfectly on the blog :)

I'm going to confess something that's a little shocking even to me...

I haven't bought laundry detergent in almost a year an a half.

Around that time I decided to take the plunge and make up my own batch of laundry detergent based on a recipe I found on the Duggar's (yes, the 19+ child family) website. I kept a bottle of store bought detergent on hand just in case we didn't like how the homemade recipe cleaned our clothes, or found it just plain didn't work.

But here's the kicker....it DID work, quite well, I might add.

So I decided to do a blog post on it. Hold on to your seats!

I'm doing the liquid version which I think is a little more involved than the powder version. As in, you end up making 5 gallons of it. See why I didn't buy laundry detergent for so long?

Here's the link to the recipe I used

The Ingredients:

Tap water, Super washing soda, Borax and a bar of Ivory soap

and a 5 gallon bucket

Step 1: Grate Ivory bar and add to sauce pan on medium-low heat, stirring until it's all melted.

Step 2: Fill bucket half full with water, add melted soap, borax and super washing soda, and stir until all powder is dissolved.

Step 3: Fill up with hot water, stir and let sit overnight.

Step 4: Get your big hunkin' man of a husband to carry it down to the basement for you 'cause this sucker will be HEAVY!

To Use: I kept one of my old detergent bottles with the measuring cap. I put 24 oz of soap mix and 24 oz of plain water in my (50 oz) detergent bottle and shake to mix. The actual number of ounces you put in your detergent bottle will vary according to how big your bottle is. The 50-50 ratio is what's important.  P.S. You don't have to be obsessive about it like I am. Just eyeball it if you want.
Shake before every use as it will gel after a while. For a regular, top loading machine, use about 5/8 cup. For me, this is just about a full cap on my detergent bottle. Super easy and an awesome cost saver.

Tips* Buy a ladle at the thrift store for this! It'll help with getting the soap into your bottle. I use a large measuring cup/bowl type thing like this one. Or like I said before you could just use a funnel and eyeball a halfway point on your detergent bottle.

That's about it! Leave a comment if you've got any questions!
Love,
your resident homemade laundry soap maker

P.S. I'm linking up to Skip To My Lou's Made By You Monday! Enjoy!