Homemade Laundry Detergent

Yesterday morning was another stormy day around here, so I decided to get caught up on some household chores, like making another batch of my homemade laundry detergent.  I started making my own detergent a little over three years ago. I can honestly say, it's super easy, and it will save you money!
The first batch that I ever made, I ended up throwing out. It was a recipe much like what I use now, but it was a recipe that you cook on the stove and it turns into a liquid / gel. It didn't smell wonderfully fresh, like laundry detergent should, and it always left some gunky residue in the detergent drawer of my HE front load washer.
This recipe is for a powder detergent. It smells fresh and clean, lasts forever (well for a little over a year) and works GREAT in my washer!!
Here's what you need to make a batch:

3 pound container of OxiClean

3 pound 7 ounce box of Arm & Hammer Washing Soda

4 pound box of Arm & Hammer Baking Soda

4 pound box of 20 Mule Team Borax

2  bottles (13.2 oz) of Downy Unstopables in the scent of your choice

4 bars of Fels-Naptha soap

One 5-gallon bucket with lid

The most difficult part of this whole recipe is grating the Fels-Naptha soap. Don't......I repeat, DO NOT grate the soap by hand. It's just way too much work and too much trouble. It's MUCH easier to use your food processor. Contrary to what you may have read, your soap will not gum up in your food processor. In fact, it makes your food processor very clean once you're finished. I mean, after all, it's soap! A rinse and wipe of your food processor is all that's needed for clean up. 

However, here's my special tip, I process the bars of soap twice, using different blades. That way, you don't have what could only be described as grated cheese looking objects in your laundry detergent. 

First I use the large grater/slicer blade and feed the bars of soap through the top.

Looks like grated cheddar cheese huh?

Next, I switch to my smaller blade, fill my food processor about half full of the grated soap, put the lid on, and pulse it a few times. I do this in batches until all the soap has been grated a second time. 

Now, the hard part's over! Next, you just need to mix everything in your bucket. I pour all of the powdered ingredients in first and stir them with a large whisk. Then I pour in the grated soap and stir with a large spoon.

I store the bucket, with the lid on tight, in a closet. Then I keep a pretty jar on the counter in my laundry room, filled with detergent and a small wooden scoop inside. Each load of laundry just needs about 2 tablespoons of detergent....that's why it lasts so long!