Homemade Washing Powder

In the last several months, I've heard so many people talk about making their own washing powder that I finally decided I had to try it for myself. This is a pretty big deal, considering I've always used liquid detergent, but the idea of making it myself was just so appealing, and then when I found this adorable little container at Home Goods, I knew this was going to be the week that I finally gave it a go!

These are the ingredients I used:
3lbs. Super Washing Soda
3 bars Fels-Naphtha 
4 lbs. Pure Baking Soda
4lbs. Borax
26 ounces Laundry Crystals (you can use the scent of your choice)
1.3 lbs Oxyclean (you can keep the blue scoop out of container if need be)

First, you grate the Fels-Naptha in a bowl. People have told me that using a food processor is the easiest way to do this, so if you have one I would strongly recommend using it. I don't have a food processor, so I took the old fashioned route. This part of the process was the most difficult, but it was really not that much trouble.

Since I don't have a food processor, I used my chopper to make the pieces smaller. 

Next, you put all of the ingredients shown above, including your freshly grated cheese Fels-Naptha in a large trash bag (this is the easiest way to mix it unless you have a big bucket, which I did not). I mixed with my hands and just tried to make sure that all the ingredients were equally distributed throughout the mixture.

This recipe made so much that I had enough to fill both my new little laundry tin and this jar full for my Momma. Everyone I know who has made this loves it and swears that their clothes smell fresher, fade less, and are softer than with store bought detergent. 

Give it a go, girls! I think you'll be glad you did.