Homemade Laundry detergent

For the last few years my whole family has been using a homemade liquid laundry detergent. I have no idea where the recipe came from. If the recipe is yours or you know where it came from please let me know so I can give proper credit. It works pretty good, but is a little messy to make. Plus it takes a while to grated the soap. Here is the recipe we have been using:

1/3 bar of fels-naptha, grated (found in the laundry aisle)
6 c. water in saucepan
Heat water and soap until melted
Add 1 c. Borax (laundry aisle)
Add 1 c. Arm &Hammer Super Washing Soap (laundry aisle)
Stir until dissolved
Pour 4 c. HOT water into a 5 gallon bucket
Add soap mixture amd mix thoroughly
Add 1 gallon plus 6 c. lukewarm water and mix again
Optional: Add 10 drops essential oils

The soap will look lumpy and you will need to stir it before each use. Add 1/2 c. to your machine.

We use it in or HE front loader and it works great. we have however discovered that it isnt the best for getting whites really bright. Part of that I am sure is because we have hard water.

Anyway I came across a powdered laundry detergent on Pinterest last week. I decided I would give it a whirl. I got the recipe from How does she?. Please check out her website. She has the ingredients listed by weight as well.

Here's what I did:
1 box Borax (laundry aisle)
1 box Arm & Hammer Super washing soap
1 (4lb) box Arm & Hammer baking soda
1 box OxyClean
2 bars pink Zote soap, grated
2 lg bottles Purex Crystals Fresh Sprin Waters

i poured everything into a very large bowl and grated the Zote soap over the top. I used a wooden spoon to mix everything together. So much faster than the other laundry detergent recipe. I even spilled some on the carpet. Just vaccumed it up and the living room smelled great.

I kept the scoop out of the OxyClean. The recipe calls for 2 TBS per load. That is equal to half a OxyClean scoop. I have now done 3 loads of laundry. Everything looks and smells great. The true test will be the load of oily, grimy jeans. Comparitively the powdered laundry soap is a little more expensive to make for close to the same amount of soap. However the powdered soap is all cleaning products vs. mostly water. The powder also uses less per load. We were making a triple batch of the liquid soap (cause who wants to only grate a third of the bar when you know you will just have to do the rest later) every four to five months. So we'll see how long this one lasts. My sister just bought a bottle of liquid laundry detergent on the same day I made this. The race is on to see whose soap lasts longer. ;)