Why didn't I think of this years ago

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For years now I've been making our laundry detergent and have used various recipes from not only the Duggars, but online sources as well.  It usually sits in a large 50 gallon bucket in the laundry room, or hallway nearby.  This usually causes accidents of tripping over the bucket, or sometimes the bucket just happens to be in the way of opening and closing machine doors.  I do not have a large and spacious laundry room such as this one. . . .  but I can dream . . . .  . 



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So, imagine my surprise when I was flipping through my March Country Sampler magazine and I found a new way to make a large batch of laundry soap, but not have to store it in a 50 gallon bucket!


1.  Coarsely grate two bars of Fels-Naptha laundry soap into a 12-quart plastic dishpan and then add 4 quarts of boiling water.  Stir until the soap is dissolved.


2.  Add 5 quarts of hot water to the dishpan and stir in 2 cups of Borax and 2 cups of Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda.


3.  Once dissolved, add hot water to the dishpan up to a few inches from the top, stir and let sit overnight - letting it sit for 48 hours is even better.


4.  After the mixture has gelled, chop it in to pieces with a metal spoon or spatula, fill a mixing bowl with pieces of it, and mix with a hand mixer until it reaches the consistency of mashed potatoes.  Repeat with remaining gel.


5.  Disperse the blended mixture evenly among 12 one-quart canning jars.  Top off the jars with a little water, cover, shake and store.  This is the concentrated form of the soap.


6.  To use the laundry soap, pour one jar into an empty liquid detergent bottle, add 2 quarts of water and shake well.  Use the bottle's cap to measure the laundry soap just as you would for the store-bought detergent; for high-efficiency washers, just use a little less.  It's thin, but it works!

Hannah had the most fun helping with making "mashed potatoes" with them before we filled them into the canning jars.  Now, I have 8 jars of concentrate which equals 8 bottles of laundry detergent for less than $3.00 - I cannot even coupon that amazing price!  Have you tried making laundry detergent?