homemade detergent recipe {the best!}

hi everyone! how has your week been going? we've had some crazy weather here in the Bluegrass. on monday we had 5 inches of snow {our first real snow day!} and today we're on the porch wearing flip flops, enjoying 72 degree weather. crazy!

for the last year or so my husband has been telling me about "homemade laundry detergent." you know me, i stuck my nose up to it and said no. ha. i figured with my coupons, that i could get brand name detergent so why did i need to make homemade? well, as the laundry companies have been tightening their coupon-giving-dollars, it's been tough to find super cheap cleaners. last week i was down to my last container and thought i'd better go get more... but there were very few GOOD coupons with store reductions. and what happened? you guessed it! i decided to make my own laundry detergent. my MIL has been using it for about six months and said it's great so i was excited to try it.

this recipe is safe in all HE washers, too.

first you'll need these ingredients...

2 cups Washing Soda {not to be confused with Baking Soda}
2 cups 20 Mule Team BORAX
2 bars Ivory Soap {grated}
2 Purex Ultra Packs {Tide also has these}
2 gallons water
1 quart of water {to use for boiling}
large bucket for stirring
4 empty 48 load purex containers {or any detergent container}

you can find all these items at your local grocery store in the laundry isle.

Directions:

add 1 quart of water to a large saucepan and bring to a boil, add in 2 grated ivory soap bars and stir until dissolved. once dissolved add in 2 cups washing soda, 2 cups borax and 2 ultra packs; stir until completely mixed and dissolved.

then pour into your large bucket, adding in 2 gallons water, mix thoroughly. at this point, you can add in any fragrance oils. i don't but have thought about it, however for now i've been adding 1 cup of regular detergent to the entire 2 gallon batch and mix. it gives it a blueish color and a nice scent.

after everything is mixed i slowly pour into my four empty purex containers {shown above}. if you have a difficult time pouring, you can remove the clear pour spout inside the container and then putting it back into place once your detergent has been added. before each load, give your detergent bottle a good shake. it took me about thirty minutes from start to finish.

and there you have it! totally ready for laundry! for hard-to-remove stains, i have standard Tide liquid detergent that i use to spot-treat. it's on sale this week at Kroger for $4.99 and there's a $1 off coupon in the paper. spot cleaner for $3.99 is pretty good if you ask me.

doing your laundry this way, the cost of your laundry loads is roughly a penny. totally awesome! why didn't my husband tell me to do this sooner?! sheesh.