You asked for it.

Well, maybe you didn't, but Cheryl did.

Last week I mentioned that I make the laundry detergent that we yeah me and the fuzz balls in my pockets use.  Below is the process I use, and this is where I got my idea.

Gather your supplies: Borax, WASHING Soda (not baking soda, there's a difference), a bar of REAL soap.  You can use Ivory, Zote, or Dr. Bonner's Castile (shown here) or Kirk's Castile.  But it must be SOAP.  Essential Oil in what ever fragrance you choose.  I like grapefruit, it has a really clean smell.  You'll also need a bucket to mix it in and something to store the finished detergent in.

First thing, grate the soap.  Either on a hand grater (wear a mask so you don't inhale the dust it creates and do it outside... just saying) or you can do like me.  I use my food processor.  No, not an old one that is dedicated to only this job unless you have one handy.  It's soap... it washes out.  I just soak it in REALLY hot water when I'm finished and rinse it really well to make sure all the soap is out.

You'll end up with lots of shredded coconut looking soap flakes, don't worry, they break up when you start mixing with the other ingredients.  Or if you live in an area where you can buy 'soap flakes' just do that and omit this process.  I would think you need about 2 cups, same as for this batch.

 1 cup washing soda.

 1 cup Borax.

Dump all this in a big bucket so that you can stir them all together.  As you stir them together start dumping in your essential oil until you have the smell you are hopping for.  I use about half a bottle maybe more.

Then you can store it in an airtight container.  I was using coffee cans, but now... I make double and today a triple batch so I just keep it in the big green bucket I mix it in.  It's an empty and cleaned cat litter bucket.  It's huge of course, but it has an attached hinged lid and I set it on it's side on the back of the washer, just open the lid, reach in, scoop out.  You only need about 2 TBS of this stuff to do a load.  I use an old Kool-aid scoop! A single batch lasts us about 6 months.  It's been so long between batches this time that I had to look at the recipe again.

Believe me it works like a dream.  My husband can get pretty grubby, and it gets all his grubbiness out.  I spray his things down with my homemade pre-treat first. 

But that's another story. 

Hope y'all have a great week... I guess I need to put up some Christmas decorations, maybe not.