♥ Liquid Lovers ♥

For the liquid lovers out there.... then I'll post a recipe for liquid laundry detergent. Please note that I have not tried the liquid so this recipe comes from a friend. She will not use anything but liquid, so trying to get her to use the powder was useless :) She's just a liquid loving kinda' gal.

Two different recipes are listed here. Both work very well.

4 Cups - hot tap water
1 Fels-Naptha soap bar
1 Cup - Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda*
1 Cup Borax
- Grate bar of soap and add to saucepan with water. Stir continually over medium-low heat until soap dissolves and is melted.
-Fill a 5 gallon bucket half full of hot tap water. Add melted soap, washing soda and Borax. Stir well until all powder is dissolved. Fill bucket to top with more hot water. Stir, cover and let sit overnight to thicken.
-Stir and fill a used, clean, laundry soap dispenser half full with soap and then fill rest of way with water. Shake before each use. (will gel)
-Optional: You can add 10-15 drops of essential oil per 2 gallons. Add once soap has cooled. Ideas: lavender, rosemary, tea tree oil.
-Yield: Liquid soap recipe makes 10 gallons.
-Top Load Machine- 5/8 Cup per load (Approx. 180 loads)
-Front Load Machines- ¼ Cup per load (Approx. 640 loads)

Directions:

Bring in 20 Mule

So, these days people are looking for ways to save money. For my family, we've made it clear that things can be done on a budget. I'm all for thrifty but I sure like nifty too. I heard you could make your own laundry detergent. Skeptical? Yes. Worth a shot? After reading the cost per load was less than 2¢ per load, YES, 2 pennies per load, I decided to give it a try. Worse thing that could happen. I didn't like it for laundry. If that be the case, I could at least use it to clean the toilets.

Things you need:
1 cup of 20 Mule Borax
1 cup of Arm & Hammer Washing Soda (not baking soda)
1 bar of soap (at least a 4oz bar) You can use Ivory, Fels-Naptha or ZOTE® and Fels-Naptha® are made specifically for laundry bar soap.

Grate the bar of soap on a cheese grater. I cheated for this. I cut the bar of soap into pieces (hunks) and put them in one of the small ($6) food processors that I rarely used. It turned into a fine powder this way so I will use this method from now on. That's it folks. It made this wonderful powdery substance that I now use for laundry detergent & to boot..... it works & smells great!

2 tablespoons per load OR for heavily soiled items, I have found 3 scoops to work better. This also works well in high efficiency washers because it a low suds detergent.

Happy Washing!