Homemade Laundry Detergent

So tonight I finally took the time to make my own laundry soap.  I used this web site as my guide: 
http://www.thesimpledollar.com/2008/04/09/making-your-own-laundry-detergent-a-detailed-visual-guide/
I have read through this site before and had forgotten about it.  Jason and I did watch his tutorial on youtube about a year ago.  Here is the link to that:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gfEJHb5lfds
I like this guy cause he is from IA so he must know what he is doing!!! :)

I did not use Borax as I have heard that it is harsh on clothes and not ok to have around kids.  I used Oxiclean instead.  For the bar of soap, I used Dr Bronners castile soap.  You can find it here:
http://www.drbronner.com/DBMS/OBPE05/PeppermintOrganicBarSoap.htm  Dr Bronners is pretty cool.  Looks to be a good go to site for some good soap!

It was a very easy process to making this detergent.  The only thing that took a bit was shaving the soap but I cut the time by using my food processor.  I had the water heating up while I shaved the soap.  Once the water was boiling, I added the soap.  I didn't do it little at a time like the guy said and I had a few clumps.  I just took my wire wisk to it and it broke up the clumps fairly easy.  In no time at all, the soap was dissolved.

I added 3 gallons of water to my "Homer" bucket by filling it up in the bathtub as my kitchen faucet has terrible water pressure.

I added 1 cup of Washing soda to the bucket and then poured in the soap that I had just dissolved.  I stirred that up really good.  I didn't have any lumps to break up.  I think it's because I had hot water in the bucket to begin with.  After that I added 1/2 cup Oxiclean to the bucket and gave it a good stir.  I put the lid on and had my wonderful husband take it to the basement for me.  I can't wait to give it a good stir tomorrow night and start using it!

I don't know how much this cost me as I bought the washing soda about a year ago and the Oxiclean from Sams club.  The Dr Bronners soap does cost a bit but I am happy that I am using something that is good and green!  I am hoping to find it cheaper on line and buy a few at a time.

I did take pictures and wanted to share but my husband went out to run some errands before I had him download the pictures. I will have to add pictures later.