Living in the desert allows me MANY days of heat and sunshine and one of my pledges do be a greener person was to take advantage of this as often as possible.  Most days here, it takes less time for clothes to dry on the line then it would to put them in the dryer.  Average time for jeans and towels in most dryers is 45 minutes.  They are completely line dry in 15 to 20 minutes here!  And we all know that nothing beats the smell of bedding that's been dried outside on the clothes line. 

~jen

Homeade Laundry Soap #1

Ingredients and Tools:

• One bar of soap (such as Ivory, Fels Naptha, or even your own homeade variety) If Fels Naptha is used you will only need 1/3 of the bar.
• 1/2 oz. of your favorite essential oil (if desired) for scent
• 1/2 c. Washing soda (Arm and Hammer makes a good one) NOTE: This is NOT "baking soda" (sodium bicarbonate). Washing soda is simply sodium carbonate!
• 1/2 c. Borax
• Large Pot
• Bucket 2 gal. or larger
• several gallons of water
• A closable container or containers to put your new detergent into

Making your laundry detergent:

1. Grate soap into the pan. Add 6c. of water
2. Heat until soap is thouroughly melted
3. Add washing soda and borax. Stir until fully dissolved.
4. Put 4 cups of HOT water into the bucket. Add soap mixture.
5. Stir until well mixed.
6. Add an additional 5 and 1/3 quarts of water continuing to stir thouroughly.
7. Let mixture sit for 24 hours. At the end of that time it will have formed an inconsistant gel (you'll see some soapy structures within the gel)

You will use approximately 1/2 c. per load ( a little more for larger loads, a little less for smaller). This laundry soap is low sudsing, so don't worry if you don't notice suds, all is well!

Now sit back and congraulate yourself for all of your fine work, and the money you've just saved yourself!