Easy Homemade Laundry Soap

I have been wondering how to make my own laundry soap from simple products for some time now.  

I started out doing some some of my own research and tried to find recipes for homemade laundry soap.  I am not a person that likes extremely complicated things.  I am the kind of person that feels if something is too complicated to make on my own, well then, it just isn't worth the time.  I found many recipes for homemade laundry detergent.  Some of the recipes I found contained more ingredients than the one I chose.  Some consisted of heating a solution in order to make a liquid detergent.  I really didn't want to get that complicated.  I just wanted a simple way to make my own laundry soap.  There are two reasons I wanted to try doing this.  I wanted to save money on store bought laundry detergent and the I wanted to find something that worked well to remove dirt.  I have a 4 and a 6 year old and sometimes I find that I have a hard time getting their clothes clean.  I sometimes even use pre-treaters on their clothes and they don't get stains out.  I also have a husband that is a machinist and his work clothes are filthy when he gets home.  

I found a recipe that I wanted to try, so I set out to buy the products.  I searched about 4 stores before I found the Super Washing Soda that is used in this recipe.  I know you can purchase it online, but it defeats the purpose of me saving money in making my own detergent if I have to buy it online and pay shipping.  I would call around to locate the product because it just isn't really popular.  Look for it in the laundry isle of your grocery store.  The following is the recipe I used for my own homemade detergent.  

1 bar of ivory soap finely grated (with a cheese grater)

1 cup borax

1 cup Super Washing Soda

Combine the above ingredients in a bowl and mix with a spoon for about 5 minutes.  You don't want big chunks of soap in it.  You want everything to combine well.  You can also use any type of bar soap you want.  I personally had the ivory around and used that.  It also doesn't seem to have too much perfume, so I thought that would be a good choice to use since my kids have sensitive skin.  

To use the laundry detergent just place 1 to 2 tablespoons in the bottom of your washing machine and fill with the water.  I suggest adding the dirty laundry once the machine has started filling with water a little bit.  I have noticed that this laundry detergent has worked just as well as some of the store bought detergents I've purchased.   I am amazed at how well it works to lift dirt out of clothes.  

How much does it cost to make a batch of this?  Well the box of borax was $5, the box of Super Washing Soda was $4, and my Ivory soap comes 3 in a pack for $1.  I tripled the recipe and still have tons of borax and Super Washing Soda left.  I was able to make about a 3 months supply of laundry detergent for my family for about $10.

Note:  The Super Washing Soda is not baking soda.  This is a product found in the laundry isle of your store.