Laundry Detergent
3.1 oz bar Ivory soap
1 cup 20 Mule Team Borax
½ cup Arm & Hammer Washing Soda
Water

Instructions: Shave the soap into small strips (I use a cheese grater) and place in the pot with 5 cups of water. Bring the water just shy of a boil and stir until the soap is completely melted. When the soap is just about melted, pour 3 gallons of hot water into the 5-gallon container and let it sit until the soap in the pot is totally melted. Once all of the soap shavings are melted, pour the mixture into the 5-gallon container and stir.

Once the soap and water are thoroughly stirred, add ½ cup of washing soda and stir until dissolved. Once the washing soda is dissolved, pour in the cup of borax and stir again until dissolved.

Optional: If you like fragrant detergent, now is when you can add a few drops of your favorite essential oils. Suggested oils would be lavender, orange, or tea tree oil.

Now you've got a huge container of hot soapy looking water. Cover the container, place it somewhere out of the way and let it sit overnight. Once it's cooled it will gel. It will not gel uniformly so it will be lumpy and watery. It may not be very attractive, but it works. It's best to find smaller storage containers for convenience. I use empty, thoroughly washed, milk jugs.

Usage: ½ cup per laundry load is adequate to clean your clothes. This homemade laundry detergent works well in high efficiency washing machines since it is low suds-ing.

One word of caution, if using a high efficiency machines: Before pouring the lumpy gel into the detergent receptacle, stir it to break up the lumps. Very large lumps may not fully dissolve, stirring the detergent with a spoon, pencil, or whatever you have available (or your finger), works fine. Additionally, for cloth diapers, it does clean the diapers well. However, I did notice a build up on the diapers, rendering them slightly ineffective for absorbing urine. So be sure to do a hot soak every now and then, or a vinegar rinse to avoid a film buildup.

Yield: 110 ½ loads of laundry