Homemade Laundry Detergent

To make the detergent, I chose the recipe from The Burlap Bag. I had no problem locating Borax but washing soda and Fels-Naptha soap was a different story.
Sis suggested that I try ACE Hardware. Low and behold, I found the soap ($1.29) and the washing soda ($4.29) sitting right there on the shelf together.

Here is the recipe for:
HOMEMADE LAUNDRY DETERGENT

1 c. borax
1 c. washing soda
1 bar soap (I used 1/2 bar)
Grate soap into bowl.  Pour in borax and washing soda. Mix until it looks like regular laundry detergent . Store in a plastic tub. Use 1-11/2 TBS per load.

NOTES:

• I grated 1/2 bar of soap instead of the entire bar.
• Mixing it together it still didn't look like regular detergent. If you look at the photo at The Burlap Bag's site you'll see that mine looks pretty much like hers.
• Burlap Bag warns not to use on exposed skin for too long. Good tip because it made my hands dry and itchy. I would suggest using household gloves for any  hand cleaning.
• Also, don't expect sudsing.
• I increased the amount of detergent I used per load
  I made two batches of the laundry detergent. One with the Fels-Naptha soap and another with Lavender scented Yardley soap that I got from the Dollar Store.

These are my dark clothes inside the washer.  I'm using the Fels-Naptha soap recipe in this load. As stated before, The Burlap Bag tells us that there will be little to no suds. Suds don't do the cleaning . They're really just there for aesthetic purposes to make us think the product is reaaaalllly cleaning.

When I did my second load which was lighter clothing I used the lavender soap mixture.

I was pleased with the results of both loads.

My detergent won't last as long as the recipe's author because I used a cup for a large load, 1/4 cup for a small load and 1/2 cup for a medium load.

I plan to begin using vinegar as my fabric softener after I run out of the store bought type. BTW- I have used vinegar in the rinse before and NO there is no vinegar smell left in the clothes.

THAT'S IT ***