i did it too!

I know that this is all over the internet, but I'm going to add my 7 cents since someone asked me about it. 

My sister is getting married and is going domestic on us so it was a nice treat when she invited herself and my mom over to make laundry soap. I bought the ingredients several months ago and was glad for the company to complete the task.

I found recipes in several places but decided to go with the one that Tina shared on her blog because it had less Fells Naptha. When I first bought ingredients at Smiths I just bought random amounts of the ingredients and hadn't bought enough Fels Naptha for my other ingredients. 

This picture is of the ingredients in a large batch.
(6 cups Washing Soda, 6 cups Borax, 4 bars Fels Naptha)

BUT I doubled it and made and EXTRA Large batch because if I'm going to make the effort, I'm going to go BIG! 

(My doubled list of ingredients) 

1 4lb. 12 oz. box of Borax  (that has 12 cups)

2 3lb. 7oz. boxes of Super Washing Soda (that has 6 cups).

8 bars Fels Naptha.

Measured out, the recipe is

12 cups Borax

12 cups Super Washing Soda

8 bars Fels Naptha

 (I found all of the ingredients at Smiths on Nellis/Stewart)

"Making" the soap is dang simple. The term making is used loosely because all you are actually doing is combining 3 ingredients. There are only 2 steps.

STEP 1: Grate the soap

This is the most time consuming step by far. 

You can do it BY HAND or WITH A STRONG FOOD PROCESSOR

We did both ways.

My sister and mom got the most exercise and grated their 6 bars (since they were splitting a large batch following a recipe that used 6 bars) by hand.

It's kind of tedious.

See?

 BUT:

If you add a bit of singing, it makes the time pass quicker....even if the 3 year old thinks it a bit strange.

Since I was grating 8 bars,  I used the food processor and 3 very "helpful" children. I had to empty the processor 3 times.

Yes, I we made a BIG mess.

The soap worked my machine hard and made an awful racket at the end of every bar, but it saved me lots of elbow grease. Washing it was a pain so If I was doing a 1 or 2 bar batch I would grate by hand!

My processor doesn't grate on a fine setting so after the initial grating I ran the processor with the "S" blade to grind it up a bit more.

Then it was perfect.

STEP 2: Mix

I used a massive bucket because I made an extra large batch. It needs to be mixed well to distribute the soap as evenly as possible.

It made A BUNCH which will last just about forever, especially since you just use 2 tbs. per load.

I just use a heaping coffee scoop.

Here it is in my soap jar:

I enjoy the light yellow color...

AND the swirly look from the side. 

Here's my review after doing 5 loads:

So far, so good. 

 *****I give it  5 STARS *****

I LOVE that it is dang cheep. I don't remember how much I spent since I'm not so good at keeping receipts, but Tina did a cost analysis and said it came out to only 7 cents per load.

I enjoy the light smell especially since I usually use scent free detergent.

I have a front loading washer and it is working perfectly! It all washes out of the little tray even.

I like that my clothes came out clean for a fraction of the cost.

I will definitely be making this again when I run out. I'm pretty sure it's going to be a while though!

I like that I know exactly what's in it and am using less harmful ingredients next to my families skin.

For my next batch I am considering using Dr. Bronners Castille Soap like my friend Ashley and Soul Mama did since Fels Naptha isn't all that natural (I had already bought it and it's way better than your average detergent goes.)


Has anyone else tried this yet? 
What did you think?