OK, here goes.

Today is the day. I have gathered the necessary equipment and will be making my very own, homemade laundry soap. To me, questionable economic times aren't a bad thing. It has encouraged us to save more money and be creative. God has always taken care of us financially, so it is not out of worry, but rather preparation that I try this out. Maybe a little morbid curiosity and a lot of tightwad. If I can make a month's worth of laundry soap for $2.50 that smells fresh and clean AND works well, I am all over it!! I must give my friend, Lindsey, credit for this recipe. I used a different kind of soap and tweaked it a little, but it is basically her recipe.
So, it goes like this:
Boil 4 cups of water.
While waiting for water to boil, grate 1/2 of a bar of Zote pink laundry soap bar. Grate all the way to the "T." When you unwrap the bar, you will see what I mean.
Drop by handfuls into the boiling water. Reduce heat to med/high and stir. The soap will sort of ball up, mash balls with a spoon. It took right at 20 minutes for it to dissolve completely. The fragrance is clean and fresh. My whole house smells clean today.
While the Zote is melting, get a lidded container that will hold at least 4 gallons of liquid.
Put 3 gallons of hot water in the container. I used a small tote. Put 3/4 of a cup of "20 Mule Team Borax" in the warm water in the tote.(Now, I must confess, I keep Borax on hand and use to for many cleaning purposes. I will list them after the recipe.)
Next, put one cup of Arm & Hammer washing soda. I am anxious to do some research and see what other uses this stuff has. Some of the suggestions on the box were awesome! BTW, I got this at United in Canyon. Apparently, it can be tough to find.
Get a big spoon and stir the mixture in tote until the Borax and soda have dissolved.
Once the Zote has completely dissolved, pour it into the tote as well. Stir well, cover and let sit for 24 hours before using.
Some notes, I did a little research on the different types of bar soap to use and found several tips against heavily fragranced soap. Fels Naptha was also suggested along with Zote as good choices. I would have never bought this Zote, so it was an exciting little adventure. I will post my thoughts soon on how well it works. I almost doubled the recipe, but decided to be cautious just in case I want to tweak it a little more.
Borax Uses:
We recently used Borax to scrub garage floor. It is a wonderful scrubbing paste to use on delicate surfaces instead of Comet. It will get grime off of white fridge handles (learned this several years ago, still amazed by it, I had tried EVERYTHING to get those things clean.) I also put 1/2 cup in with a hot water load of whites, along with Clorox, it smells wonderful and gets the clothes whiter. It is also a great grout scrub. It will get grout white like it is brand new. I have had a few clients do this to get their houses ready to sell. Not that I am green obsessed, but not only are these ideas frugal, but they really cut down on waste. I actually had saved some old laundry soap bottles and am going to pour the detergent into them once it cures. Now you go try it! Happy washing!