Homemade laundry soap and dishwasher soap..

Me and my weird projects. Ok, so I was watching TLC channel several months ago and saw the show about the Duggar family that have like 17 kids. They make their own laundry soap and showed them making some. I was intriged. So I googled it and found a video on U-Tube that demonstrates how to do it. I bought the stuff and finally made some yesterday. I have used it 3 times so far, yes I have already done 3 loads of laundry today. It seems to work well. This would be great to put in your food storage.

Homemade Laundry Soap
1\2 c Borax (found in the laundry soap aisle). Cost: around $3.00
1\2 c Arm and Hammer Washing Soda (Also found in the laundry soap aisle). Cost: around $3.00
One bar of mild soap, grated. Can use Fels-Naptha, Ivory or anything else mild.
1-2 grated orange peels (optional. Next time, I'd like to try grapefruit.)

Mix well. Use 1 T per load. Yes, that is all you need. If you add up your cost of the materials, it would be around $8.00. So it works out to be like .05 per load. Um, that is super cheap. I can't even get laundry soap that cheap with all my couponing. My only concern is how well it will clean your clothes, and if it is harsh on them. I guess we shall see.

Homemade Dishwashing Soap
While I was looking for the laundry soap recipe, I came across this one. I have used it once so far and it did a good job.

1 1\2 Borax
1 1\2 Baking Soda
1 c table salt

Use 1\4 cup per load.

I am kinda getting into making stuff from scratch and have had fun finding stuff like this that I can make. It feels good to make your own stuff and not have to run to the store for every little thing. Don't get me wrong, I still love fast food, ding dongs and Diet Pepsi. I wonder if you can make those yourself? I bet the won't taste anything like the real thing, will they?!