and I have none of the ingredients at home. It also looks like it takes more than five minutes to go through all of the steps and that doesn't include the overnight stay mentioned in the procedure.

Then there is the issue of the final product having an appearance similar to bodily secretions.

I'll stick with buying laundry detergent at the store.

Why?

a few years ago I had an issue with chronic hives (turned out to be thyroid related) and was trying to figure out a laundry detergent with out many ingredients - this came up. it does have a scent from the Fels but it doesn't linger on your clothes.

I give it as gifts too, and call it goo instead of sauce because with my water it gets "stiffer" than mayo for sure.

BTW, as a bachelor, I consider heating water in any manner (boiling or in a coffee pot) to fall under "cooking".

sometimes I don't get around to making it and end up with store-bought but this stuff is what we mostly use. LOL on bachelor cooking.

Spouse swears my mom, who died in 1989, taught him how to boil water. You put it on the burner, turn it to high, and wait till the pot is dry...….………..

It's one of the biggest reasons why modern detergents work far better than anything that was available decades ago. However, those enzymes can also produce allergic reactions so some people can't tolerate them.

than getting a new plastic bottle every time I need detergent, I've used the same 2 plastic bottles for about 5 years. Just make new batches in them when I'm out.

I'm trying to give up plastic as much as I can. It's ridiculously hard.

Will cost 5 times what a bottle of detergent costs....wtf

it is way cheaper than store detergent

Here is the breakdown from the link page in the OP:

When are you available to do my laundry?

and dried on a clothes line, no dryer allowed!

I'm definitely pro-dryer. I find the fabric much softer than when clothes are hung on the line. So I guess I'll just have to do my own laundry after all.

how can you tell your towels are clean if they all feel soft and used?

I knew that was coming.

Freezes before it dries. Then it's months of recovery.

and freezing dries stuff pretty well (as to frost bitten fingers, that is a whole other issue LOL)
coldest I ever felt was Fairbanks in December, I think it was 20 below or something. back in the 70s, took the train up from Anchorage, where we were spending the winter.

It's just not fun. The stuff has to hang indoors to thaw.

20 below is mild for December. Anchorage never gets truly cold (-55 is the neat stuff).

Give me a damn dryer! I wash clothes by hand and a gadget - but leave my dryer alone!

OH! Kali, and the aurora are very out tonight!

I could HEAR them. was that real? so cool.

yeah, Anchorage is warmer than where I was born - Flagstaff, AZ
I don't remember the temp, so much as my toes were so cold and my little bit of exposed face hurt in the 5 minutes we got out of the vehicle to walk around and look at some old mine. ugh and BRRRRRRR it barely ever freezes here and I still hate winter.

People don't believe that? Get your ears checked! It's truth especially in the Interior and up North. We layer on, and sit on the hood of the warmed-up Jeep, in snowmachine suits if necessary. I winter!

It's also fun in summer when the sun never really sets - party time!

Made a five gallon bucket of it with a slightly different process. Lasted quite awhile and it works.

I liked this because it was smaller amounts and didn't need storing. also can give it away as gifts pretty easily.

Plus, looks like the individual jars would make a great gift. I'm not that handy myself. There are days I can't even find enough motivation to drag my ass to the store to buy milk, LOL.

great thing about this one is the dissolved soap from the first step can sit around for weeks until you get around to the second step. (trust me on that! LOL)

I grew up in the 60's and I remember seeing Fels Naptha, 20 Mule Team Borax, and Arm & Hammer washing soda in regular grocery stores or maybe specialty stores like Agway. Home Depot and Walmart didn't exist then, but we still had old-fashioned general stores where you could find oddball items.

I don't know about rural areas, but I'm pretty sure these items can't be found in city or suburban supermarkets nowadays. Anybody else?

I get the Fels at Ace, Safeway carries Borax, and rumor has it walmart has the washing soda - I ordered it from Amazon.

Arm & Hammer.

Reasons:

No artificial scents. I won't lie. I worry about that stuff now. This time last year I didn't give it a thought.

It's less expensive

It's better for the environment.

That's all I got but it's enough for me.

I don't have allergies but I sometimes get a skin reaction when I use a different brand of detergent for the first time. I've always assumed it was due to the artificial scent, but I don't really know. Or it could be in the dyes. I had eczema as a child but I outgrew it in my teens.

chlorine bleach and/or oxiclean if you need a boost

Besides, that formula is going to work poorly in hard water.
Will leave insoluble divalent soap salts that won't rinse out.
And micellization from soap is poorly performing on protenaceous soils.
There is a major technical difference between a soap and a detergent
Lastly, the economy brands at the dollar store are pretty effective, damned cheap and don't have the above limitations

my water isn't the hardest in the world, but it ain't soft that is for sure. No residue is another plus (I'm not seeing anything insoluble???)

Your post said ask you anything?
Enjoying it is a variable for which there can be no argument
If you like it, cool for you!
Just opining as an expert in surface chemistry

around here - what with the dusty environment, livestock, and pets - submicron particles are low on the concern list (at least in terms of visibility on laundry)

It's already made into a semi solid (when cool to cold it's almost solid, when left out in 90 F heat it liquifies) and it has surficants to keep stuff from settling back on the clothes.

While I originally used it to wash my horses - 1 tablespoon in a five gallon bucket worked great to wash several horses - it is also used by textile conservators and quilters to wash their items. Quilt shops sell it for much more (8 ounces for about $15) but I can get a 7.5 pound jar from the feed store for about $30.

Here is a pretty good article on using it for quilts: Using Orvus Quilt Soap to Wash Your Quilts

And here is a blurb from a conservator source on Orvus Paste:

The principal active agent is .sodium lauryl sulfate
That is a true detergent.
It's hard water tolerant tolerance is mediocre but it's a very strong surface active agent
BTW: it's a paste because it as added lauryl alcohol and copious salts
Those shift the phase chemistry toward the gel phase

So my recipe for a liter is: 1/2 cup washing soda, 1/2 cup borax, 1/2 cup Cascade.

Been using it for years. Works great. Poster above me says it will leave deposit, but it doesn't.

or something for hand washing? machine dish detergent sometimes has bleach in it but it sure will clean grease and oils!

so add water to make a liter/quart? that is it or do you need to heat and disolve? seems like you could also just use the dry version, whatever that measures out to per load...

size of the last detergent bottles I bought years ago when I started doing this.

So for the 1.5 liter bottle, I use 1/4 cup (so 1/2 for the two bottles) of each ingredient: Cascade, washing powder, borax.

I funnel it all into the container, fill the container up half way with very hot tap water, cover it and shake to mix. Then fill it the rest of the way with room temperature or cool water.

I reshake before each use.

It doesn't suds much in the washing machine, but I think suds are just added to store bought stuff because sudsy detergent sells better.

EDIT TO ADD: I do use the powder version of Cascade. I don't know how the liquid Cascade would work. It's a very different formula, if I recall correctly.

yeah I have boxes of powder from her. she is on septic and somebody told her not to use powder. I use the goo as well because my dish washer is still under warranty, after that I will probably go back to powder, I don't see the difference in cleaning and it is cheaper. I don't like paying for plastic containers of water.

that was when I had a really crappy dishwasher. It might have just been that.