DIY: Liquid Laundry Soap

My review for the powdered laundry soap is in...  it gets clothes clean, but I feel like I always need to add more than 2 tablespoons.  This is purely a "me" thing... because the clothes are clean!  I think it's because after using name brand laundry detergent over my lifetime, I must be brainwashed that I have to use more (like a 1/4 cup or something).  More is better right?  So, I found myself doing laundry sprinkling in a little more washing soda or borax.  I was also at times putting 3 tablespoons of the laundry soap in.  So, I'm moving on to liquid laundry soap. This recipe definitely is MORE!  It makes 10 gallons!  I'll be having laundry detergent for years!

This soap is apparently the Duggar family recipe.  We don't watch TV (we're a Netflex family), so I don't know much about the Duggar fam. except what I see on the internet. Apparently, they have a really big family (19 kids), and laundry is a full time job in that house.  Therefore, shouldn't they know what works?  So their recipe is:

1 grated bar of soap ( I'm going to use my homemade soap!)

1 cup of washing soda (see recipe, if you can't find it in the stores)

1/2 cup of borax

4 cups of hot water

5 gallon bucket

MORE water

Melt the grated soap in a saucepan with 4 cups of water.

 Fill up the bucket half way with hot water.  Add the melted soap, washing soda, and borax to the bucket.

Mix and make sure everything has dissolved.  Then add more water to fill the bucket.  Let it stand overnight and it will turn to gel.

Some people use the soap at this point.  One cup per load.  But the Duggar family takes it one step farther.  They are saying that what we just made is a concentrate.   When you are ready to use it, fill half of a used name brand laundry detergent container with your newly made soap and the other have with water.  Use one cup per load!

So I'm going to try both ways...  I'll get back to you!

Review:  I consider the concentrate my laundry soap, not the diluted soap that the Duggar family uses, though it does work.  The concentrate is thicker (which I like, this is probably because I was raised using store brands) and it works.  My complaint is how it works on white clothes.  My whites got dingy after 3 washes.  To compensate I added 1/4 cup of baking soda.  This brighten them, but not as much as I was hoping.  So, for whites, I use my powder laundry soap. 

If you use homemade laundry soap, what discoveries have you made?