Laundry Excitement!

In an attempt to be both frugal and green,
I made my own laundry detergent!
*gasp*
We were using liquid store brand detergent
which was running us about $15 a month.
I haven't broken down my exact cost but from researching others,
this homemade version will cost about $12 a YEAR!

Yes people, a Y-E-A-R!!!

Interested?
Here are my ingredients:
1 bar Fels Naptha soap
1 cup Washing Soda
1 cup Baking Soda
1 cup Oxy Clean

First, I grated my bar soap on the teeny-hole side of my grater:

I left it to dry out (took a few hours) and then blended it to dust.
I just used our magic bullet.

Combined all the ingredients:

That was it!!!
2 Tbs/load

So here's the important part....the first load....

I washed a sheet,
DaddyMan's running gear,
and some bath towels.

Pretty mega duty stuff, right?

It was awesome! DaddyMan is training for a marathon. He's not just running around the block, he's running 8-12 miles, so his running gear is gross! Now, in full discloser, I admit to not smelling the dirty laundry (sorry, not going to happen!). But the clean laundry was totally clean and fresh smelling and looking!

Here's what I learned from looking at other laundry detergent recipes:
*If you can't find the Fels Naptha, others have used Ivory.
*In my area, I could only find the Fels Naptha and Washing Soda at Fred Meyer (Kroger). It's on the same aisle with the laundry detergent. I think others have also been able to find them at Walmart.
*Some recipes called for Borax, but considering one comment said it was optional and also "great at killing roaches" I left it out.
*Since Borax is apparently a great cleaning agent, I opted to use the OxyClean instead.

Another resource w/ 10 detergent recipes including liquid detergents here.

Let me know if you try it!