Homemade Liquid Laundry Soap

I LOVE this stuff! Works Great! We have a commercial size front loader washer and dryer and live in the county where we use a septic system. My husband works in construction and his clothes are extremely dirty and this cleans them great! I have given some to two friends that have someone in their family with extremely sensative skin and they spent TONS on specific laundry soap... they say they LOVE this and it doesn't irritate their skin at all! (For top loaders use twice the ammount per load.)

Liquid Laundry Soap Recipe/Directions:

Ingrediants:

2/3 bar Fels Naptha (you can find this in the laundry section of just about any main store)
1 Cup Washing Soda (Arm and Hammer, comes in a box, also in laundry section... NOT Baking soda!)
1 Cup Borax powder (Mule Team kind, comes in a box, laundry section)

Materials:
LARGE saucepan
5 gallon bucket with lid
Liquid measuring cup
Dry measuring cup
Cheese grater


Total cost for these ingrediants is about $10 to start, but the boxes of Washing Soda and Borax can be used for much more as you only use a small ammount of what the box has.
I do about 12 loads of laundry a week (I know, disgusting isn't it!?) and this batch of soap will probably last me about a year, possibly longer.

Directions:
Grate the soap and put it in a LARGE saucepan. Add 12 Cups water and heat it until the soap melts. Add the washing soda and the borax and stir until it is dissolved. Remove from heat. Pour 8 Cups hot water (from the tap is fine) into the bucket. Now add your soap mixture and stir. Now add 2 gallons plus 12 cups of water and stir. Let the soap sit for about 24 hours. It will gel, stir it. Use about 2 tablespoons to ¼ cup per load for front loader HE machines. ½ cup for top loaders. I took my old liquid laundry soap container and filled it and then store the 5 gallon bucket out of the way and safe from the kids. Because of the way it gels having it in a container that can be shook before pouring it into the machine or measuring cup really helps.
Optional: 1/2 to 1 oz of essential oil for scent.