Home made laundry soap- powder

I am continuously looking for common household products that I can make on my own.  I have been wanting to try making my own laundry soap for a while now.  Since I seem to have the bar-to-liquid soap making down, I decided to try laundry soap.  It seems like it's so expensive to buy it!  I usually buy the CHEAP stuff which is almost always Purex on sale for about $3 for "32 loads" size.  I however, over-do it.  I use about one full cap for each load, as opposed to the recommended 1/3 to 1/2 cap.  Granted, I use a commercial machine which holds more, but still,  I think this might be a mental thing?  Never mind that,  I do like Purex though, and it is fairly inexpensive as well.  But, can I make something just as effective for cheaper?  Instead of starting out with a liquid, I decided to try a powder version, even though I don't really care for powder detergent as it seemed to be easier and cost me less work and time.  There are many recipes online for laundry soap, but here's the version I went with.

**What you need**
     +Super washing soda (I found Arm &Hammer brand)
      + Borax (20 mule team Borax)
      +1 bar of Fels-Naptha soap.
     +Grater and/or food processor
      +Container to store your soap in.

**How to**
    +Grate 1 bar of Fels-Naptha soap into a bowl
I grated the soap with the smaller hole side of the grater.  You can also use a food processor.  I have a small food processor for light-duty small jobs, I tried this after cutting the soap into small chunks with no luck.  I did however put the grated soap into the processor to make it into smaller pieces.  I don't think this is really necessary though.
    +Add 1 cup of borax to bowl
    +Add 1 cup of super washing soda to bowl
    + Mix using a spoon.
I tried mixing with my hands first, but had a small cut, which it irritated.

That's all, pretty easy!  Store it in a container with a lid so it doesn't collect moisture.  Also, its a good idea to tape shit or transfer your Borax into a sealed container as moisture in the air will cause it to harden.

**To Use**
This is what I did, I think you could probably just add your soap as you would normally.  I don't use powder, so I wanted to let it disburse in the water a bit before adding the clothing.
Start washer with water, let fill about 3-4 inches deep.
Measure 1-2 tablespoons and sprinkle into wash water
Add clothing and close lid, let finish wash cycle.

Now, I searched and read all things about home made laundry soap making.  There are many different recipes, but most of them contain something similar to what I have listed.

**Where to find the ingredients**
All the products I found in the laundry aisle at Meijer.  I have read that a lot of people have trouble finding the Super Washing Soda.  They sell it at Meijer and it can also be purchased online from what I understand.
All of the ingredients have been used for many many years.  I know that both the Borax and Fels-Naptha have been around for 100+ years.  If it's been around that long, I'd say it is a pretty trust worthy product.
The super washing soda and borax were in the section where you also find laundry additives such as wash boosters, stain removers, oxi clean, etc and conveniently right next to one another.
The Fels-Naptha was a little harder to find.  It was actually with a small section of body and hand soaps in the same aisle, near the dish soap.  I found it next to soaps such as Kirk's Castillo soap and those pumice soaps like Lava.

**What are these ingredients?**
 These ingredients are nice for the environmentally conscious or those with skin irritant allergies.  Both the Borax and Super washing soda are natural.
Borax is also called sodium tetraborate and is naturally found in dry lake beds.  It has many household uses and in this recipe used as a laundry booster and odor remover. Read more here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Borax
Super washing soda is also called sodium bicarbonate or soda ash and is also a natural, mined element. This is used as a water softener and booster as well.  Read more here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washing_soda
Fels-Naptha is a laundry stain remover soap that has been around more than 100 years.  It is also used to treat poison ivy/oak.

** Cost (approximation)**
Washing Soda 55 oz- $3
Borax 76oz-$3.25
Fels Naptha Bar- $1.10
 Total                   $7.35

You won't be using all of either powders, so this is an overall start up cost.
Borax, approx 1/9th of the box- Cost: $0.33
Washing soda, approx 1/6th of the box- Cost: $0.54
Fels-Naptha bar, whole bar- Cost: $1.10
Total                                                 $1.97


**Yield per batch**

This will make approximately 3 1/2 cups.
Depending on size of load and how much you use will determine how many loads you will get from this.
"Recommended" amount is:
     + 1 Tablespoon per load
     + 2 Tablespoons for larger or heavily soiled regular loads
For me, I tend to over-do it, thinking the more you use, the better.  So I used about 3-4 Tablespoons in a commercial washing machine that holds about 1 1/2 average loads of laundry.
Based on a 2 Tablespoon per batch measure, you would get about:
     +28 loads per batch, 7 cents per load!



I am going to compare this to my personal usage of laundry soap, where 1 bottle of "32 load" size will yield me about 10 loads and the home made yields me about 14-19 loads.
I will then compare based on the listed load size.

**My personal usage comparison
If items are purchased at full price:
Tide liquid 32 load size- approx. $6/ $0.60 per load, $48 per year
Purex liquid- approx $4/ $0.33 per load, $32 per year
Home made powder- 3 1/2 cups approx $2/ $0.14 per load, $12 per year

                                           +++Savings: at least $0.19- $0.36 per load, $20-$36 per year, up to 75%+++

On average, I do about 1 1/2 loads of laundry per week (which is equal to about 3 loads regular).  At this rate, I do about 80 (or 160 regular loads) or so loads per year!

**Recommended usage comparison, based on small load
Tide liquid 32 load size- $6/ $0.19 per load/$30 per year
Purex liquid- $4/$0.13 per load/ $20 per year
Home made powder- $0.04 per load/ $6.40 per year

Based on a 3 load per week usage/160 loads per year approx:
                                              +++Savings:  $0.09- $0.15 per load/ $13.60-$23.60 per year, up to 79%+++                                 


**How well does it work?**

There are many factors to consider, but I will share my experience to give an idea.
*I don't smoke or work in a place that make my clothing smell.
* I also don't perspire much or seem to stain my clothing very much, so I don't really need anything heavy duty.
*I also have fairly good city water which is NOT softened.
*I used a commercial grade washer, which holds a larger amount, about 1 1/2 regular load.
* I washed approx 3 pair of jeans, 6 shirts, 1 sweater, 2 pair of pajamas and about 4 days worth of socks, panties and bras
* I had one shirt with a fairly large smear of white deodorant on the arm pit, which had sat and caked-on.  Other than that, no clothes had stains or pungent odors.
*I washed in warm water.

The Fels-Naptha has a heavy odor, you can smell it through the package.  I don't mind the smell, but can see how some would be put off by it.  This smell is about what your clothes will smell like coming out of the washer, but will dissipate after drying with a couple dryer sheets.

*This soap does not produce many suds at all, this doesn't mean it isn't cleaning.  Most soap products contain sulfates which are foaming agents and are not needed to clean things, but help the cleaners in soaps.

*The shirt with the deodorant set-on came out clear with absolutely no trace of stain or deodorant smell.
*Clothes all seemed to be cleaned and have no odd Fels-Naptha smell.

**Overall, I like this soap and will make more.  I plan to try liquid version next time.  This may be a permanent replacement for store bought laundry detergent!