These recipes are from a couple sisters in my Relief Society. I love how they aren’t ‘smelly’ and they still do fine in cleaning. This is the source: http://www.soapsgonebuy.com/category_s/24.htm . I was able to find all these ingredients at my local grocery store.
First Recipe:
3 Pints Water
1/3 bar Fels Naptha Soap, grated
1/2 cup Washing Soda (Arm and Hammer, NOT baking soda though!!)
1/2 cup 20 Mule Team Borax
2 Gallon bucket to mix it in
1 Quart hot water Hot Water
Mix Fels Naptha soap in a saucepan with 3 pints hot water and heat on low until dissolved. Stir in Washing Soda and Borax. Stir until thickened, and remove from heat. Add 1 Quart Hot Water to 2 gallon Bucket. Add soap mixture, and mix well. Fill bucket completely with additional hot water, and mix well. Set aside for 24 hours, or until mixture thickens. You may add additional HOT water if the mixture becomes too thick. Mix Well before each use. Use 1/2 cup of mixture per load. Makes 64 loads. Cost per load .03.
Second Recipe:
Water
1 bar grated Fels Naptha soap
5 gallon bucket
1 cup washing soda (Again, Arm and Hammer, not baking soda)
1 cup 20 Mule Team Borax
4 1/2 gallons water
Put grated Fels Naptha in saucepan and cover with water. Heat on low until dissolved. Fill bucket with hot water and add soap. Stir to combine. Add 1 cup washing soda and 1 cup borax and mix well. As it cools, it will thicken. If mixture becomes too thick, add hot water to thin it to desired consistency. May be used immediately. Mix well before each use. Use 1/2(normal) to 1 cup per load (heavy). Cost per load .04.
Powdered Laundry Detergent (I haven’t tried)
1 cup grated Fels Naptha Soap
1/2 cup washing soda
1/2 cup 20 mule team borax
Mix and store in airtight container or bag. For light or small loads, use 1 tablespoon. For normal loads, use 2 tablespoons. For heavy loads, use 3 tablespoons. Cost per load .15.
To make a large batch – grate 6 bars of Fels Naptha Soap and then add 3 cups of Washing Soda and 3 cups of 20 Mule Team Borax. Mix well and store in covered container.
TIP: The above recipes will NOT make suds in your washer so don’t be alarmed. Fels Naptha Soap is a pure soap and typically makes little or no suds in the water. This makes it perfect for use in the new HE washers as well as traditional washers. The website that these recipes came from say that you will also notice the need to either reduce your laundry softener or in most cases you can even eliminate the use of softener completely, but I haven’t seen this yet for my laundry. But I don’t use softener anyway because I think that putting chemicals on your clothes probably isn’t the best idea.
