By Popular Demand - Laundry Soap!

I borrowed the original recipe from the Duggar's site and altered it a bit for my liking:

Homemade Liquid Laundry Soap- Front or top load machine- best value

4  Cups hot tap water

1  Fels-Naptha soap bar

2  Cup Washing Soda

1 Cup Borax

- Grate bar of soap and add to saucepan with water. Stir continually over medium-low heat until soap dissolves and is 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 overnight 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: You can add 10-15 drops of essential oil per 2 gallons. Add once soap has cooled. Ideas: lavender, rosemary, tea tree oil.  I like it just the way it is, so I don't add essential oil.

-Yield: Liquid soap recipe makes 10 gallons.

-Top Load Machine- 5/8 Cup per load (Approx. 180 loads)  

-Front Load Machines- ¼ Cup per load (Approx. 640 loads)

Optional, don't dilute and use just half.  But I dilute :)

I use the Bounce Bar in my dryer and I just LOVE how my clothes come out!  If you need some pre-treating or stain removed (Or like me, pee-pee bed clean-up) soak the load in the washer with a little Washing Soda.  That's Washing Soda, not Baking Soda!  BIG difference and you get it in the laundry aisle.  I got all of these ingredients at Fred Meyers.  The Fels-Naptha bar was about $1.50, the Washing Soda about $3 and the Borax about $4 (it's cheaper at Walmart) but you don't use all of the washing soda and borax, so I try to adjust that into the final price.

Now, I keep what we aren't using in the original 5 gallon bucket and just refill our little detergent bottle as needed (or rather, Jason does for me!)  And I'm pretty sure I'm not using the full 5/8 cup, since I just use the top cap that came with my ultra detergent of yester-year.  We do about 10 loads a week and it's lasted me 6 months.  And please, please keep in mind my husband works for the garbage company and does recycling, so his clothes are SMELLY when he comes home and they come out NOT smelly from the wash!