Squirrely Days and Chicken Nights: DIY Laundry Detergent

I have to admit that buying laundry detergent is one of my least favorite things to do (aside from actually doing laundry). I just hate spending the money, and it seems like we're always out of it (detergent - well, maybe money, too).

I've seen several blogs about DIY laundry detergent, and here are my observations:
- the majority of blogs use the same basic recipe
- the ingredients are common and the instructions pretty basic
- the DIY powder gets rave reviews! People say it cleans extremely well.
- it's safe for an HE frontload washer
- it makes a TON of detergent and therefore lasts quite a while
- it doesn't require much per load (1 to 2 tbsp)
- it costs less.

So... I dove in. I made my own batch last week. We will run out of our usual laundry detergent this weekend, and then we'll start using the powder I made. Jacin, however, has already jumped the gun and tried it. He was so excited last week that he had to do a load of clothes just to test it out. The verdict? He said it seemed to clean the clothes really well but it didn't have a distinct smell to it - just clean. That's ok with me if it saves me money.

Here's the recipe I used - http://beingcreativetokeepmysanity.blogspot.com/2010/11/homemade-laundry-soap.html#comments. The hardest part (which really wasn't very difficult) was grating the Fels- Naptha bar soap. I made my huge batch (about 2 gallons) of DIY laundry detergent during nap time. It was super quick and easy. I added one small container of Purex Laundry Crystals to see if I could obtain a yummy smell. Unfortunately, I should have used the large container. The detergent doesn't small bad at all - it just smells like soap. But if you're used to a yummy smelling detergent (like one of Gain's flavors), you'll want to add the crystals.

If the powder works as well for us as it seems to for others, I'll definitely be making it again. Here are some pics of my batch: