Laundry Soap

A friend of mine let me use some of her home made laundry soap, I do A LOT of laundry and I really liked it. Clothes seemed cleaner and whites brighter without the use of bleach. I bought the ingredients today spent about 8.00 probably 10.00 with a 5 gallon bucket if you don't have one. probably took me 20 min total to make and I think will last 5 months or so.

Ingredients
4 C hot tap Water
1 Fels-Naptha soap bar
5 C Washing Soda
1/2 C Borax
5 gallon bucket with lid

-Grate Bar of soap and add to saucepan with water. Stir continually over medium heat until soap is dissolved and melted
-Fill a 5 gallon bucket half full of hot tap water. Add melted soap, washing soda and borax. Stir well until all powder is dissolved. Fill bucket to top with more hot water, stir cover and let sit over night to thicken.
- Stir and fill a used, clean laundry soap dispenser half full with soap and then fill rest of way with water, shake before each use (will gel)
-optional can add 10-15 drops of essential oil per 2 gallons. Add once soap has cooled. Ideas lavender, rosemary, tea tree oil. Yield: Liquid soap recipe makes 10 gallons

Top load Marching- 5/8 C per load (aprox 180 loads)
Front load machines 1/4 C per load (aprox 640 loads)

I used about 1/2 cup or less per load on mine.

Fabric Softener for Dryer

1 sponge cut into 1/4 's
1 C Downy or other liquid fabric softener
4 C water

Cut sponge into 4 sections. Mix Downy with water. Store sponge in mixture, drain one sponge for each load of laundry. put sponge in dryer with clothes. When load is done put sponge back into the mixture to use again.