Homemade Laundry Detergent

           Jet Lag....Two words that can create a superhuman at 4am and a zombie at 6pm when you've returned from across the world.  As I contemplated what to do with my energy this morning before the sun, dog or chickens were up I decided to make a batch of laundry soap.  As I was moving about my kitchen, quite pleased with myself, I realized I wanted to share this news with the world, "Making your own laundry soap is the most (ok, just a little over the top) fulfilling and easy!"  I realized, with my super energy I could make laundry soap, dust my pound cake with powdered sugar and start that blog I'd always been meaning to.  Ergo....JENuinely Living's first post: Homemade Laundry Detergent.

            I can't take credit for the recipe, although they're all pretty similar, but thanks to this lady, I was able to avoid the leg work and learn from her mistakes.  I've also pared down her recipe, because who wants a giant Home Depot bucket* sitting in their laundry room when you could make small batches and keep them in cute glass jars found at your local Fred Meyer? (Full disclosure the link is to a Pottery Barn look alike and I don't get a kickback - I don't even know how to do that...yet :).  This is SOOOOO cheap & it smells delicious & takes little to no time ( I set up this blog in my downtime).

            

Time Invested:  

• 20 minutes Active Work (grating, measuring, stirring)
• 24 hours Inactive Work (boiling, thickening time)

Ingredients:

• 1/3 Fels Naptha Bar grated
• 1 1/3 cup water
• 1.3 oz Borax (little less than 1/4 cup)
• 1/3 cup washing soda
• 1 Gallon (16 cups)

Instructions:

• Set the 1 1/3 cup water to boil
• Grate the Fels Naptha
• When the water starts to boil, lower to simmer & stir in the Naptha
• While that's melting, measure the gallon of water into a large bucket, add borax & washing soda.
• Once the Fels Naptha has completely melted, stir it into the bucket with borax & washing soda, and stir until everything has dissolved.
• Cover & let set 24 hours - stir again after the 24 hours and you are ready to use!
• 1 cup per load**

*Jon the handy husband says:  "Or you could make the 5 gallon HD bucket size and keep the glass jar.  Just trade the rest with your homemade-stuff-making-friends."

**I also add a little bit of Oxy during this stage (maybe half a cup)