Homemade Laundry Soap

  Lately I've been reading a lot about some families making their own laundry soap. It's an intriguing idea, making one's own laundry soap- plus I'm all for anything that will save my family money. After a lot of reading, it seemed that if you could find all the ingredients at a reasonable price, that it would be worthwhile. On the plus side, the most popular recipe on the Internet is also fairly Eco friendly according to many Green living websites.
  I decided to go for it and give the homemade laundry soap a try. The recipe I chose only used four ingredients: Water, Borax, Washing Soda, and Ivory Soap. In my neck of the woods, Arm and Hammer Washing Soda (sodium Carbonate) can't be found. I know that I can ask a local store to stock it,  but I'd rather try the recipe first before doing so. I opted for swimming pool PH adjuster. It was more expensive, but was readily available for my chemistry experiment. And instead of Ivory, I chose to go with what I had on hand, Lavender Yardley.
 
For the recipe I used You need:

1 Bar of Ivory (or your choice) soap, grated
1 cup of Washing Soda
1/2 Cup Borax
3 gallons of hot water

In a saucepan add 4 cups hot water. Mix in the grated soap and stir until dissolved. Likewise in a large bucket add the remaining hot water. Add the soap mixture, stirring well.  Mix in your borax, then washing soda. Mix thoroughly and leave to sit overnight.

Overnight you go from runny soap water, to, well...laundry detergent! It looks and smells like the store bought stuff. My cost calculations bring the 52 plus load batch to $3.77- well worth the effort. I can bring the cost down even more once I find a less expensive source of calcium carbonate. AND if I use Ivory soap the next time, I'll shave off at LEAST 5 unnecessary chemicals! I haven't used it yet, but when I have I'll post the results.