Test Kitchen: Testing "How To Make Homemade Laundry Detergent"

I've been doing research on easy "How To's" on the Internet via blogs, articles and Pinterest.  Some that stuck out to me like great ideas include "How To Make Your Homemade Laundry Detergent", "Making Your Own Dishwash Detergent", "Cleaning Hard Water Stains from Your Showerhead", and "Baking Soda as Silver Polish".  This post and more to follow has everything to do with my effort to follow these easy directions and get the same results.

How To Make Your Own Laundry Detergent

I found a blog post by WhyNotSew (http://whynotsew.blogspot.ca/2010/08/how-to-make-homemade-laundry-detergent.html) and decided it seemed simple enough and had cost savings listed that were great.  $6.00 for 600 loads of laundry.  I am ready to throw out Tide and give this one a whirl. 

First, I went to locate the items at Walmart.  I had so much faith in this process working, I bought several boxes of each.  You don't need to do this as one box of each will do several batches.  I have issues purchasing just one of anything.

Borax (1 cup)
Washing Soda (1 cup)
Bar of Soap
2 Gallons of Water

Additional Items needed:

One Large Pot
One Long Stirrer
Grater
Funnel

I started by shredding the soap.  I like Caress, so that was the soap I chose.

I added the shredded soap and one gallon of water to the big pot.  It took about 15 minutes for the soap to dissolve. 

Once dissolved, I added the Borax and the Washing Soda.  You need to bring this to a boil so the items start coagulating.  This took some time.  About an hour and a half or so.  It could be my pot, as it is pretty hefty and takes a while to get anything boiling.

Once that has completed, remove pot from the heat and add a gallon of cold water, stirring well. 

I let my batch sit for a couple hours, then stirred again.  I used the funnel as instructed to get the batch into my two empty gallon containers.  At first, this was a pain.  But, then I realized that this process was actually assisting in de-clumping a bit of the batch that I did not stir well enough.  I got the batch into two jugs and shook them pretty good.

I used a cup in my load of laundry.  The waiting...then the washer was done!  I checked the laundry and it looks good to me!  The clothes are clean, no crazy smell and no crazy colors.  Whew!  I put them in the dryer, did another review, and am happy to say I am calling this one a success! 

I have a lot of loads of laundry to do until the next batch.  Oh wait...I was bragging to my brother about this recipe and now he wants a batch.

A friend has asked me if this recipe is resulting in any filminess on the clothes as she had read that previously.  I have not laundered the same clothes enough to answer that one, but will follow up.