If anyone is in the least bit interested, my niece, Becky Rapinchuk, wrote a book "The Orgnically Clean Home". It is absolutely unbelievable. It says on the front page "150 everyday organic cleaning products you can make yourself - the natural, chemical-free ways. Google Becky Rapinchuk - Clean Mama.net. Her ideas are unbelievable and son of a gun, they work. From laundry soap to towels that clean the dirt of dogs feet in muddy weather. Sure is a heckuva lot neater than hanging a dirty towel in the hallway.

Give it a look-see and you can get the book at Barnes and Noble and Amazon (I think). So well worth the money.

Edie

I make the liquid version of this recipe.

I have been making my own for about 2 years. I just made my 3rd batch and it cost me under $20. I use one large box of Borax, the large box of washing soda, large box of baking soda, large box of Oxiclean , 3 shaved bars of Fels Naptha and 1 bar ivory soap shaved. I bought a plastic storage box that has a airtight seal to store it in. I dumped everything in the box, put on the lid and shook it good. I have a front loader and have had no problems. I did notice that I needed to use a bit more that what the recipe indicated which was 2-3 Tablespoons. I took the measure cup from the Oxiclean and cut it down to the size I wanted.

Boy I'm with you on this. We live on the family farm, plum all 5 of my men work on cars, 2 of them off the farm as they jobs one changes oil all day and the our works on them so you can see the oil and grease that come home for me to get out. I like to idea of OxyClean add to the mix Will gave this a try. I have been making my soap in the slow cooker I put the dry things and a part if the water [ just to full the cooker]. mix it as walk by. them when it is well mixed I move to the storage pail and add all the water and mix again and as need.

I've made lye soap as did my mother and mother in law. Yes it is made with fat, aka mostly hog. It can be lard or meat fryings. There is a cold method and a cooked method. Lard was rendered in a very large kettle over an open fire at hog killing time. It has been so many years since I made lye soap I don't remember how I did it. Since our culture has moved away from the use of animal fat in cooking, I think it has become a lost art. Ah the memories. Thanks for reminding me.

I like the soap recipes, but want to know how to make fabric softener also. I haven't been using softener since I got my front loader more than three years ago. The clothes come out of the machine so dry, they need very little time in the dryer or on the wash line.
It doesn't really need softener since all the soap residue has been spun out. But I might try some anyway.

I have not seen the Zote flakes...Good idea! I will look for some.

Have you checked for that at Google?

I use this mixture with my front loader.

I Googled and found this recipe for softener:
http://www.lizmarieblog.com/2013/08/...ndry-softener/