Share Your Money Saving Tips & Homemade Laundry Soap Recipe

A reader recently forwarded this recipe to me! I have been wanting to make this forever because of the amount of Laundry Detergent we go through and I thought the kids would just have fun with it! I found this pic of a 5 gallon bucket decorated and I am going to make this and the laundry soap with the kids this weekend! Share some of your ideas on ways to cut cost around the house...recipes,ideas, coupons or deals you have found! Money saving mommas have to help each other out!

Heres the recipe:

There are different soaps that can be used: Fels-Naptha, Ivory, Sunlight, Kirk's Hardwater Castile, or Zote. You can use any bar soap as long as it isn't heavily perfumed. I am going to use Fels-Naptha for mine(it can be found at Ace Hardware).

Ingredients:
4 cups hot tap water
1 soap bar
1 cup washing soda(laundry aisle at WalMart Ive been told)
1/2 cup borax

• Grate bar of soap and add (~4 cups) to a saucepan with water. Stir continually over medium-low heat until soap dissolves and is melted. (Put the water in the pan first and add soap so the mixture is not bubbly )
• Fill a five-gallon bucket half full of hot tap water. Add melted soap mixture, washing soda and Borax. Mix this until everything is dissolved. ( sift the borax and washing soda before adding to the bucket.) Fill bucket to top with more hot tap water. Stir, cover and let sit overnight to thicken.
• The next day, stir and use a clean laundry soap dispenser (you ca nuse a Rubbermaid pitcher that closes tight) filling with half soap mixture from five-gallon bucket, half water. Shake before each use. (It will gel)
• Optional: You can add 10-15 drops of essential oil per two gallons. Add once soap has cooled. Ideas: lavender, rosemary, tea tree oil.
Yield: Liquid soap recipe makes 10 gallons. Top load machine: 5/8 cup per load (appx. 250 loads) Front load machine: 1/4 cup per load (appx 640 loads)

I will let you know how it goes!!! We may be swimming in a sea of bubbles knowing my luck!Post some of your ideas, recipes, tips...can't wait to read them!

Thanks, Amy for suggestion and recipe:)