Laundry Ideas and Recipes

For several years now, I have made my own laundry soap to save us money and to make our soap a little more environmentally friendly. I personally really like the detergent that I make and I think that it is just as good if not a little better than the detergent that I used to purchase at the store. I also have found a much "greener" solution for fabric softner.
I am not sure of where I first seen the recipe for the laundry soap, but I know that it is on the Duggar Family website. Here is the recipe that I use and I have changed it a little bit to what is published on the web in many other places.

LAUNDRY SOAP RECIPE
1 bar of Ivory Soap , grated
1/2 bar of Fels Naptha soap, grated
1/2 cup Borax powder
1 cup of Arm and Hammer Washing Soda

Combine these ingredients into a medium pan and add about 4 cups of water. Boil for about 10 minutes stirring constantly. Pour this into a 5 gallon bucket and fill bucket with cool water. Stir a few times and let set for 24 hours. Stir again. Pour into empty laundry soap jugs or empty, cleaned gallon milk jugs.
This recipe will allow you to make 5 gallons of detergent for about $1.80- $2.00. This is much cheaper than buying laundry detergent. It works as well as Tide or any other store bought detergent.

Another laundry aid is vinegar. I have found that vinegar works well as a fabric softener when added to the washer. I have used this for several months and my clothes are soft and free of static, and do not smell like vinegar. Also, a great "green" addition to laundry can be adding a little baking soda or vanilla extract to your water to aid with odors that might be on the clothing.

Each of these ideas is a fairly cheaper idea and works well with other fabrics. Neither of these are hard to prepare and will not harm your clothing or your budget.