Homemade laundry soap

I've been using this homemade laundry soap for a few months now. I absolutely love it! I found the recipe on this blog: http://whynotsew.blogspot.com. Check out that blog for the full recipe and instructions, its' pretty cool!

I've been using Irish Spring bar soap, since that's what I had on hand. I store my finished soap in half gallon mason jars. It looks very pretty in the jars, sitting above my dryer and I am quite proud of myself for making something at home that is so basic, yet necessary.

One of my monsters helping grate the soap!

The blog suggests using 1/2 cup per wash load, but since we have a rather large washing machine, I have started using closer to 3/4 cup each time. There are MAYBE a few suds in each load and the smell is not very strong. I never understood the appeal of laundry that was so smell-good anyway. On top of perfume, deodorant, hair products, and lotions, I don't know why we have to have laundry that smells, too. Just sounds like a migraine waiting to happen!

My hubby was all for saving some money by using this soap. At first, I needed his muscles to pick up the pot and pour it into the jars for me. But an edit in the blog mentioned above says she is just leaving her soap in the pot after it cooks, instead of messing with the jars. I'm gonna start doing that, too, since it saves a step and some hassle.

This was my first batch and my DH. I tried to melt the soap in the pot, before adding the water and it turned the batch  brown. The next batch was a pretty shade of Irish Spring green!

 On the sewing front, I've been making progress on the sweet pink UFO top. I will be finishing the last outer border today and I will post a picture of it later today. Then, I get to move on to another UFO from my basket! Feels so great to get something finished! I'm usually a 'topper', since my machine and space can't really handle machine quilting outside of some basic straight lines. I used to laugh at the idea of someone who didn't finish their own quilts! ah well....