Homemade Laundry Detergent

There are tons and tons of recipes for homemade laundry detergent out there. I never thought about making your own detergent until I saw it on Pinterest. When I looked it up, there were too many recipes to choose from. I have no experience with making detergent or with any of the ingredients (like Borax, etc.), but most of the recipes looked fairly simple so I wanted to try it. 

The recipe I decided to try was from Erin @ Why Not Sew. Her recipe leaves you with two gallons of detergent so I only made half because of storage. One gallon is enough at a time. All I needed to make the detergent was water, a Fels-Naptha bar, washing soda, and Borax. Since her tutorial can explain everything, I won't go into detail. 

Everything went really smoothly, except when I left the soap to boil for a minute and went to change the laundry. I came back to see it boiling over, which left me scrubbing the insides/underneaths of the stove for a few days. But at least it was soap that spilled, so now the stove is nice and clean. :)

I used the detergent today (about 1/2 cup per load) and it worked perfectly. This detergent doesn't make suds, which I have to get used to, but it worked just fine. There may not be a big advantage in using homemade detergent over store-bought, but I was motivated to try it because:
a) its simple and easy
b) its much cheaper than store-bought
c) I know what goes into it...no nasty chemicals I can't pronounce
d) less waste since I don't have to buy a plastic container

So there you have it. It works for me and I'll continue to make it. I feel proud of myself for making my own detergent because until recently, I hadn't even thought about making it on my own. Ya know how sometimes you forget that you don't have to buy everything??