Homemade Laundry Soap POWDER for HE or standard

All my girls just gather around and talk while grating and sharing domestic secrets at our              "soap party!" 

We have a great time discussing all things home and family management--which is a real motivator! Here is our going small recipe and our larger recipe. It's easy and fulfilling to do!

I use hand grating and food processors to grate the soap with or without friends close by. Here is a great low sudsing powder laundry soap safe for even the HE washers:

1 bar Fels Naptha soap grated like cheese
2 c borax
2 c washing soda
1/2 c baking soda
1 c oxyclean or oxygen laundry additive

Grate your soap--
Mix all dry ingredients with a whisk--
Add your essential oil if desired--
Store in an airtight container--

Because these are natural products, you will want to press them through a screen seive to avoid putting clumps into the wash once they have sat in storage for a long time. Use the coffee scoop to measure and coffee can for storage of your powdered laundry soap. Here is the direction for how much to use:

Use a coffee measuring spoon, 1 slightly rounded scoop for a small load, 2 scoops for a large load. If you are washing really dirty clothes, add up to 1/2 extra scoop.

Your finished product should look like this:

 

Here is a larger recipe:

 

 

8 cups of baking soda 

8 cups Washing Soda*  (baked baking soda at 400 degrees on a cookie sheet)

12 cups of  Twenty-Mule -Team Borax (laundry isle WalMart)

8 cups of grated soap (Ivory, ZOTE, Castille, Fels Naptha)

3 tbsp of your favorite essential oils (optional and should be stored in a dark bottle)

 

*You can buy Arm & Hammer Washing Soda (if you can find it in the laundry isle) but its cheaper to bake and make your own in 45-60 min (you want it to try and be clumpy)