1 Year Supply of Homemade Laundry Detergent

We do A LOT of laundry in our house.  Actually, my husband does A LOT of laundry.  He's great and everyone pitches in!  I started making my own detergent about a year ago in order to save us some money and I love it.  I recently bought a 5 gallon paint bucket and followed the recipe below to make enough to last the whole year through.  I have tried a few different recipes (liquid, gel, and powder form) and this is my favorite. 

*Update- Recently a friend asked me why I didn't use Borax in my recipe (she saw it in a lot of homemade recipes) and while I am pretty confident (after reading research) that Borax is not harmful, my kids do have ultra sensitive skin and I was trying to find something that would not cause them irritation.

It is the end of July and we are almost through our batch from last July.  We estimated that the ingredients for a year supply cost us $22.  I'll take that! 

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2 bars of Zote or 3 bars of Fels-Naptha

2 Boxes of Baking Soda (4 lbs each)

2 boxes of Washing Soda (4 lbs each)

2 Oxi-Clean tubs (3.5 lbs each)

Fabric Softener Crystals (optional- I didn't use)

1. Grate the soap      

2.  Mix everything together      

3.  Use 1 tbsp per load
We have been known to add Downy Unstoppables to very stinky loads 

(attn:potty training mommas)!