Barbie, nice to hear about the cold water, thanks.

I noticed that Biz has enzymes in it, and that might be an interesting thing to add to this mix?

I'm loving this soap, but I have a low-water front-loading washer, there is never a level of water sloshing around in it. It squirts some, spins a lot, and seems to do that continuously.

I washed a blanket in it that seemed to take up the whole washer, and I manually spread the soap around, but after drying it there were soap flakes all over one section of it. So it isn't getting dissolved enough, and I'm thinking I'm going to make it a much more liquid solution, make sure everything is dissolved thoroughly before putting it in the washer.

Me too I never use anything but cold water. I will be sharing this with my hort club.
Mavis

I gotta say, I have finally made and have been using a variation of one of the dry recipes here, and love it too. DH is impressed with how well it works, but disappointed in the lack of scent, so I'm thinking of picking up some cologne to spray his things with. Thanks so much for the penny pinching idea!

I LOVe my homemade laundry soap! I substitute part Dr Bonners lavender soap for the soap part and it gives it a scent. More $$ THOUGH. Once I used the liquid Dr Bonners for part of the soap too and that works. Gives a nice scent.

So far I haven't found any Dr. Bonner's, only finding the stuff I have used at big grocers like Cub Foods, but I will keep looking. Thanks again!

As far as scent goes....I added about a cup or so of my leftover GAIN...a scent we have used for years...and the homemade soap did take on the fragrance of that. I have lavender, and hope to infuse this fragrance into the laundry detergent next batch this summer. I'm a convert on this homemade soap. I've checked online for a recipe, and this recipe is the same on many, many web sites. I was concerned about Stoddard Solvent in Fels Naptha because it was listed as an ingredient on Wikapedia. I contacted Dial Corp, and they assured me that Stoddard Solvent was NOT an additive in their product.

Daisy, Dr. Bonners for me on the west coast is in the "organic" section of Walgreens, and in the high end tourist stores or specialty grocery stores. The peppermint stuff is great.

I love this washing machine soap, too. I've had to make it more liquid, and put it in first, because of my low flow front loader, but I get really muddy in the garden and the shirts always come out clean, the towels and animal blankets really soft, and I hang laundry outside which usually makes things like cardboard, but not anymore

Cool, thanks Tom. I'm checking my Walgreens tonight.

I have used Dr Bonner's soap for a long time, but not in the laundry detergent, but will try that when I make the next batch. I had a recipe for a fungicide/pesticide using Dr Bonner's, garlic and mineral oil. I think neem oil could be substituted for the mineral oil. But that would be a different post altogether.

My last batch has been seperating. Does this happen to anyone else? What did I do wrong?

Yes, it does separate. You just need to shake it up..a lot for the first 24 hours, and then shake it before each use (at least that's what I do). I have read on other web sites about it separating. After I added the cup or so of store-bought brand name left over detergent that I had to the mixture, it didn't separate so much, but seems that shaking it up a bit takes care of the gelling. I believe the bought detergent has emulsifiers to keep that from happening, and the homemade doesn't.

My daughter in Indiana was having trouble finding the ingredients so I mailed them to her.
Now my other daughter in Germany (sob) can't find her favorite flavor of Tide so she wants me to send the recipe. I will just send her the ingredients too because if we had that much trouble finding them here just imagine with just a small BX & everything in town written in German. I am missing her & the grandson so much it physically hurts.
Back to the topic. I love this soap.
When DH took me to get the ingredients, I told him if he had any trouble with the new soap, I would trash it & go back to Tide. No problems for a month now & I think the clothes are actually cleaner & definitely smell better. With the vinegar, my costs are way down & the washer & dryer seem much cleaner too.

I just made a fresh batch of this soap today. I used a bar of Kirk's Castile soap instead of the fels. Anyone else done this? I like the smell so much better, and the consistency seems a bit nicer. Haven't tried it yet as I made it after the laundry was done this morning.

Hi all ~ I've been making/using this soap for a couple of years now. When I use Fels Naptha (my personal favorite) it does have a tendency to separate. I make mine in a two-gallon bucket, 'cuz I do alot of laundry, and I just scoop the liquid or gel out with a measuring cup. If it needs to be stirred up a little bit, I use a long-handled wooden spoon. Here in the western part of the country, Walmart sells a bar soap called "Zote". It's a large, pink bar of soap made in Mexico, and it's fantastic - and it has never seperated on me.