The ingredients you need to make this recipe are: water, washing soda or pool pH adjusting soda, Borax, Dawn dishwashing liquid, grated hard soap and water. Any hard bar of soap will work. Some people use Ivory. What I used for this particular recipe was a "laundry bar" that I purchased specifically for this application. I grated the soap bar by hand, but you can use a food processor. Most recipes do not use Dawn dishwashing liquid but I have read that it makes a big difference in the grease cutting and stain removal power of the detergent, so I added it.
You can add some fragrance oil, if you want to. I left mine unscented.
You will need a large bucket. This recipe makes 10 liters, so you need a bucket that will hold that much and some, so you have room to stir vigorously. You will also need a large pot for the stove top and something that measures 1/2 cup.
This is the simple recipe:
1 cup of grated soap or store bought Ivory soap flakes (also hard to find).
1/2 cup washing soda or not quite 1/8 cup of pool pH adjusting soda
1/2 cup Borax
1/4 cup Dawn dishwashing liquid
Bring a quart of water to boil on the stove in a large pot. Add all ingredients except the Dawn, slowly while stirring well. Stir in the boiling water until very well dissolved. Pour into bucket.
Add enough water to bring the amount up to 10 liters and stir vigorously until well blended. Let sit overnight. This should be a gel by the next day. Add 1/4 cup Dawn dishwashing liquid and stir vigorously. If you add the Dawn with the rest of the ingredients, it stops it from gelling as much as it should. Add fragrance oil at this time. Pour into usable size containers. Shake before using. Add 1/4 - 1/2 cup of this to a laundry load, depending on size of load.
It was quick, easy and cheap to make! I will find out very soon how well it works.
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