I have made several batches of the soap. I love it! I made the powder which is what my mom likes, the rest of us like the liquid. I use one whole bar of zote, 1 1/2 cups each of borax and washing soda, not sure how much water the recipe calls for but it makes 6 1/2 gallons! I share it with everyone. It costs less than 3.00 to make that much and I use 1/3 cup per load. I hang my clothes on the line to dry and they are as soft as when they come from the dryer with fabric softner. The smell is clean. No flowery or any scent added. I love it! My sister has 2 little boys and sometimes uses a whole cup per load if their clothes are really bad, you know the little boy sweaty smell. She says it works great. I just bought 5 extra bars of zote at the grocery store the other day at only 1.19 per bar. The boxes of borax and wash soda are less than 3.00 each, and they will make many many batches. So I really think the large liquid batch I make is less than 2.00 per batch now that I kind of calculate it. It is really low sudsing and my friend and sister both use it in their front loading washers and say it works great for them. I am all about saving the money. I have printed hundreds of "make it yourself, cheaper, greener" recipes in the past few months. Started as I need to save money, then it became a challange to find as many things as I can do to save in every way.

Homemade Laundry Detergent

This fills a 200 ounce detergent bottle. Please read all instructions before making.

What you Need:

1/3 Bar ZOTE soap (you can get this on the spanish isle at Dollar General for $1 a bar and you get 3 helpings from it)
1/2 cup 20 Mule Team Borax (you can get this at you local grocer for about $3 in the cleaners isle)
1/2 cup Arm & Hammer Washing Soda (this should be near the Borax for about $3)
3 Quarts of boiling water (you will also need 5 more quarts of boiling water)
Big "old" pot

Directions:

Put 3 quarts of water in the pot and bring to a boil. Grate soap into the water and stir until melted. Add Borax and stir until dissolved and then add the washing soda and stir until dissolved. Cook for about 1 hour until it begins to resemble honey (it will stay pink).

Put 1 quart of boiling water in a 5 gallon bucket and then add the mixture and mix well. Add 4 more quarts of boiling water and mix well.

Let stand for 12 hours before using. Let cool for a couple of hours and then you can use the top of a milk jug for a funnel and fill your detergent bottle. Pour slowly. When it is set it will resemble chicken fat, but don't be concerned, you can put some in a small pot and heat it up slowly on the stove top and bring it back to a liquid. This is what I do because I have a front load washer and it works well for me.

Use 1/2 to 3/4 cup per load.

If you would like to have a scent, just add about 10 drops of any essential oil that you may have.

This is a low sudsing detergent which is great because it helps lengthen the life of your washer.
Also for those who asked, here is the fabric softner recipe I use. PLEASE read all instructions first and follow them carefully.

I got this from the BYC website where I got this recipe and some others, it is someone elses (much smarter than I) calculations. The boxes are about the same prices for me but the zote costs me 1.19 per bar.

"I use Zote soap which is a 14 oz bar. The recipe calls for a 1/3 bar which averages around 4.3 ounces. The bar cost $0.60 per bar. That equals to $0.20 per batch.

Arm & Hammer Washing Soda which is $3.89 for a 55 oz. box. The recipe calls for a 1/2 cup. I calculate the price by the the weight and then multiplied that by the actual measurement needed for a 1/2 cup which is just over 4 oz. And that comes to $0.29 per batch.

Borax which is $3.99 for a 76 oz. box. Used same calculation technique as above and it came to $0.18 per batch.

So with my calculations of .20 + .29 + .18 = $0.67 cents per 2 gallons of detergent."