Every time I go to the grocery store and spend $15 on a tub of detergent only to look up no time later and find it empty, it makes me cringe. After hearing how easy it was supposed to be to make my own, I said What the hey. I grated the bar of Fels Naptha in my food pro and added some homemade lavender essential oil to it. Then, I followed the rest of the directions I found online. That gives you about a cup of soap, so you use 2 cups borax and 2 cups washing soda. The water where I live is a step above gray water, and undrinkable. It is super hard and gives my washer a strange odor, and often my clothes. This concoction eliminates that smell, doing double duty. It cleans my family’s clothing better than ever, and is mild enough for my baby, who’s under 2. It also cleans my washer and helps eliminate the weird water smells. My towels have never been softer and they smell fresher. I’ve started using less fabric softener because I don’t seem to need it as much.Call me a hippie, call me granola, call me crunchy, call me cheap. This takes less than 10 minutes to make, stores easily in a plastic or glass container, uses much less than regular detergent (only 1/8-1/4 cup per full load, and I have a large capacity washer/dryer), and works better.It even gets than terrible sml out if my hubby’s workout gear and leaves all my clothes smelling like they were line dried by a gentle breeze in a lavender field.