Home-Made Powdered Laundry Detergent

INGREDIENTS
1 (4.5 oz) bar of castile soap, grated or ground (I use Kirk's Original Coco Castile bar soap. It's cheap and readily available.)
2 cup borax (I use 20 Mule Team Borax.)
2 cups washing soda (I use Arm & Hammer All Natural Super Washing Soda.)
1 resealable container that holds about 5 cups

DIRECTIONS
Thoroughly stir together all ingredients (not the container, of course!)
Use 1 Tbsp per load (or 2-3 Tbsp for large or heavily soiled loads).

NOTES

If you don't like hand grating bar soap, try a food processor. I have a small one and that is what I use- with the chopping blade. I bet a sturdy blender would work too.

If you want scented soap, try using Dr. Bronner's scented bar soaps. They're lovely and come in a variety of scents. They're just more expensive.

If you have soft water, you can reduce the borax and washing soda in the recipe down to 1 cup each. If you do, you're cutting your detergent cost down to about 5 cents per load! (We have very hard water at this new place of ours, so I use more.) 

This soap works well for high efficiency washing machines. It's low-suds.

This detergent is safe for septic systems. It has no phosphates or fillers and is non-toxic.

This soap works well on cloth diapers and covers, as it leaves no optical whiteners, softeners, or fragrance residues behind.

Don't confuse sodium borate with borax. These are 2 different things. Sodium carbonate/soda ash IS the same thing as washing soda, however.