A few years ago I made 10 gallons of liquid laundry soap with my friend's recipe, much like the ones mentioned above. It was easy, worked well, lasted forever and very inexpensive. When that ran out I tried her dry/powder recipe, same three ingredients, and haven't made the liquid since. Ridiculously easy, takes 10 minutes to prepare, requires very little storage space. Cleans really well, no perfume/dyes, no nonsense. The two boxes and about 4 bars costs maybe $16 and lasts me at least an entire year (1 load/week, occasionally 2).


1 cup Borax
1 cup Super Washing Soda
3/4 bar of shredded Fels Naptha (use a cheese grater)

Mix these three ingredients and use 1/8 cup per load. Really, a little goes a long way.

If you want to add a scent she says you can shred an eighth or quarter bar of natural/handmade soap and add to the mix. Anything/everything can be washed in this but she suggests not using it on cloth diapers (not sure why but you could look that up if you use them.)