1 Fels Nap bar of soap
1 Cup Borax
1/2 Cup of washing soda (note: NOT BAKING SODA!!)
1 Cheese grater
2 5 gallon buckets with lids
LOTS of water! ;)
and I bought a paint stirring drill bit to mix it up good. :)
First I grated the bar of fels nap up and then I found the biggest pot I have and put 4 cups of water in it and started it to boil, then added the fels nap that I graded up into it and let it simmer stirring A LOT until it was dissolved completely.
Then I filled the 1st 5 gallon bucket up w/ hot tap water about half way and added the borax and washing soda and stirred until it dissolved. Then I added the melted fels nap and water mixture to it and filled the bucket up the rest of the way with HOT water and stirred it. At this point I was using the end of my broom to stir. I then put the top on and let it sit over night.
After sitting all night I removed the top to a separated mixture that I couldn't get mixed up with my broom handle so we went and bought a paint stirrer for my drill and it got it mixed up good without me having to touch it. :)
Then I poured half of the mixture into my other 5 gallon bucket and filled both buckets back up with HOT tap water. Whala 10 gallons of laundry detergent just like Michelle Dugger uses!
I don't feel like this did the trick to get all my clothes really clean so I twicked my recipe a bit today!
Here is what I did today:
1 bar of White Zote soap (.97 at Walmart...same price as Fels Nap, but a MUCH larger bar that is actually made for washing clothes and has optical brightener in it!!)
2 Cups Washing Soda (1/4 per bucket after separating)*once again NOT baking soda!
2 1/2 Cups Borax (1/4 per bucket after separating)
cheese grater
2 5 gallon buckets
LOTS of water
paint stirrer
whisk
I started the same as before by grading my bar of soap and adding it in a large pot of boiling water and let it simmer until it was melted. (I feel like it took longer to melt then te fels nap because it clumped on me when I stirred it in the water....the soap is much softer than the fels nap)
While it was melting I filled my bucket up w/ BOILING HOT water about half full. I also boiled another 4 cups of water and mixed in my dry ingredients with a whisk in it after I took it off the stove.
Then after I took the melted Zote and water mixture of the stove I poured the dry ingredient and water mixture in with it. I used a whisk and stirred it until it was mixed well, before adding it to my bucket of VERY HOT water.
After I poured the mixture in the 5 gallon bucket that was filled half way already with BOILING water I added HOT TAP water and filled it most of the way up. Then, I got out my drill with my paint stirrer attached and mixed it well! I am going to let it cool down before I put the top on it. So a few hours maybe till about 4-5 this afternoon as I made it about 10:30 am. Then I will let it sit until about lunch tomorrow before I mix it again and separate it into the other 5 gallon bucket with HOT water like I done before. I will then let that mixture in both buckets sit overnight before adding it to my old laundry detergent containers that I cleaned up. :)
UPDATE: I just checked my laundry soap and it is very gelled on the top! So I am going to mix it and separate into my other 5 gallon bucket! :) I mixed my detergent up very well w/ my paint stirrer on my drill and poured 1/2 into my other 5 gallon bucket and added boiling water to fill each bucket back up. I also added about 1/4 c of borax and 1/4 c of washing soda to some of the water that I boiled for each bucket. I then used my paint stirrer to mix both buckets very well and am letting them cool before putting the lid back on them like I did yesterday. So tomorrow afternoon I will mix each bucket again and it will be ready to use!! I will do a review later for this new recipe, so check back in a few weeks for it! It will be titled 10 gallon Zote Laundry Detergent Review! Happy Cleaning!!!!
***NOTE: I made the other batch in mid January of this year and I still have 1 large gain container that has the press button on it full as well as 3 48-50 load containers full and 2 32 load containers full. I just made more because my 2 5 gallon buckets are empty and I had the time! I'm sure I have enough of the old to last a few more months! :)
ALSO NOTE: I use 1 cap full per medium load and 1 and 1/2- 2 caps for large loads to make sure I get my cloths clean! I live in a remotely hard water area so that may be part of it!
I do NOT use this on my cloth diapers as I hear it causes them to repeal and since I use microfiber in my pocket diapers I don't want to risk it!! I either use Arm & Hammer Free with a half a cap full of calogen on them or a powder detergent mixture that I made. (I don't use it very often for fear of the borax messing up my diapers elastic and PUL) However if you would like the recipe to try it is as follows:
1 part Oxyclean (SUN brand NOT the Oxyclean brand!)
2 parts borax
1 part Washing soda
*Just mix with a spoon! I use old Oxyclean buckets to put it in! and use 1 scoopful per load! (I use the scoop that come in the Oxyclean.
I will UPDATE tomorrow afternoon with a picture of how it turned out this time! :) and later I will review the new recipe! :) Happy Laundry!
Props to justalittlenutty.com for the picture! :)
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