My First Attempt at Laundry Detergent

First I wanted to show you my supplies and the cost. A 5 gallon bucket $4.26, Washing Soda right under $3, Borax around $3 and Zote laundry soap $.88. I ended up using just over half the bar of soap so you could use half and get two uses out of each bar. I will end up getting multiple uses out of each box of the other ingredients, so in the end this will be very cost effective.

I ended up using the recipe from the Duggar's website, since I had a 5 gallon bucket.















Here is my 1 cup of Washing Soda and 1/2 cup of Borax.
















Grated Zote soap, it was not hard to do at all. I thought it was going to be hard to grate, but was very easy.
















Here is the grated soap, melting in boiling water. I thought I did something wrong at first b/c the soap all clumped together, but as it boiled it all dissolved.
















Here is my dissolved soap, washing soda and borax all mixed and all I had to do was top off with water and mix well. I added a bit of tea tree oil and lavender essential oil for a mild sent.

I will update tomorrow after I use it to let you know how it works.