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