I've made my own laundry soap for YEARS now! I was very hesitant on using it at first, but the real test was my husbands GYM CLOTHES! 
After washing with the homemade stuff, his clothes don't smell, and are very clean!
You only need a little bit in each load. It does not get all sudsy like the store bought stuff, but that doesn't mean it's not working.
I do Minimum 2 loads of laundry a day (usually more) x 365 days x we'll say 3 years = Minimum 2190 loads of laundry!
Each batch can last me 5-6 months (depending on how many extra loads I do)
It costs PENNIES per load.
I found a site that has almost exactly what I do so I'll post from that site here!
"
Making the Laundry Detergent
The only ingredients you actually need for homemade laundry detergent are as follows:
The ingredients
1 cup washing soda (I use Arm & Hammer)
1/2 cup borax (I use 20 Mule Team)
1 bar soap (I use whatever’s cheap, in this case Pure & Natural)
Approximately 3 gallons water
You’ll also need a container of some sort to store this in (I use a five gallon bucket with a lid), something to stir it (I use a large wooden spoon), another pot to boil soapy water in (I use the pot in the picture), and something to cut up the soap (I use the box grater in the picture).
First thing, put about four cups of water into the pan and put it on the stove on high until it’s at boiling, then lower the heat until it’s simmering.
While it’s heating up, take a bar of soap and cut it up into little bits. I found a lot of success using our box grater, which resulted in a ton of little soap curls.
When the water is boiling, start throwing in the soap. I recommend just doing a bit at a time, then stirring it until it’s dissolved. Here, I made the mistake of just tossing in all of the soap at once, which wasn’t particularly helpful:
Soap shavings
Stir the soapy water with a spoon until all of the soap is dissolved. Eventually, the water will take on the color of the soap you added, albeit paler. I used Pure & Natural soap for this, which was a white soap that looked a lot like a bar of Ivory.
In the end, you’ll have some very warm soap soup:
Dissolved soap
Next, get out your large container and add three gallons of warm tap water to it. I’m using a bright orange five gallon bucket that I had lying around:
Empty bucket of water
To this bucket add a cup of the washing soda and the soap solution you made and stir. The borax is optional – some people say that it’s too harsh, but I’ve always found that it did a good job getting clothes clean and fresh smelling, so I recommend adding a half cup of borax to the mix.
After stirring, you’ll have a bucket full of vaguely soapy water:
The Bucket
Don’t worry if your batch doesn’t match the color of my own – it varies depending on what kind of soap you use. I made a batch with Lever 2000 in the past and it had a greenish tint to it, and I’ve heard reports of all kinds of different colors from other people who have tried this.
At this point, let the soap sit for 24 hours, preferably with a lid on it. I just took our bucket to the laundry room.
When you take off the lid, you’ll find any number of things, depending on the type of soap you used and the water you used. It might be firm, like Jello; it might be very watery; it might even be like liquid laundry detergent. Just stir it up a bit and it’s ready to be used.
My batch wound up being rather slimy. It had some slimy-feeling water with various sized pieces of white gelatinous stuff floating in it. Here’s what it looked like – I’m using a video here because images don’t really capture it.
Don’t worry about the texture – it’s completely fine. Just use a measuring cup and use one cup of the detergent per load of laundry. If it’s got “globs” in it, get a mix of the water and of the globs – it’ll break up very quickly in the washing machine and wash your clothes well. If you’re still concerned, you can mash up the globs quite easily, but I saw no reason to do so. "
After washing with the homemade stuff, his clothes don't smell, and are very clean!
You only need a little bit in each load. It does not get all sudsy like the store bought stuff, but that doesn't mean it's not working.
I do Minimum 2 loads of laundry a day (usually more) x 365 days x we'll say 3 years = Minimum 2190 loads of laundry!
Each batch can last me 5-6 months (depending on how many extra loads I do)
It costs PENNIES per load.
I found a site that has almost exactly what I do so I'll post from that site here!
"
Making the Laundry Detergent
The only ingredients you actually need for homemade laundry detergent are as follows:
The ingredients
1 cup washing soda (I use Arm & Hammer)
1/2 cup borax (I use 20 Mule Team)
1 bar soap (I use whatever’s cheap, in this case Pure & Natural)
Approximately 3 gallons water
You’ll also need a container of some sort to store this in (I use a five gallon bucket with a lid), something to stir it (I use a large wooden spoon), another pot to boil soapy water in (I use the pot in the picture), and something to cut up the soap (I use the box grater in the picture).
First thing, put about four cups of water into the pan and put it on the stove on high until it’s at boiling, then lower the heat until it’s simmering.
While it’s heating up, take a bar of soap and cut it up into little bits. I found a lot of success using our box grater, which resulted in a ton of little soap curls.
When the water is boiling, start throwing in the soap. I recommend just doing a bit at a time, then stirring it until it’s dissolved. Here, I made the mistake of just tossing in all of the soap at once, which wasn’t particularly helpful:
Soap shavings
Stir the soapy water with a spoon until all of the soap is dissolved. Eventually, the water will take on the color of the soap you added, albeit paler. I used Pure & Natural soap for this, which was a white soap that looked a lot like a bar of Ivory.
In the end, you’ll have some very warm soap soup:
Dissolved soap
Next, get out your large container and add three gallons of warm tap water to it. I’m using a bright orange five gallon bucket that I had lying around:
Empty bucket of water
To this bucket add a cup of the washing soda and the soap solution you made and stir. The borax is optional – some people say that it’s too harsh, but I’ve always found that it did a good job getting clothes clean and fresh smelling, so I recommend adding a half cup of borax to the mix.
After stirring, you’ll have a bucket full of vaguely soapy water:
The Bucket
Don’t worry if your batch doesn’t match the color of my own – it varies depending on what kind of soap you use. I made a batch with Lever 2000 in the past and it had a greenish tint to it, and I’ve heard reports of all kinds of different colors from other people who have tried this.
At this point, let the soap sit for 24 hours, preferably with a lid on it. I just took our bucket to the laundry room.
When you take off the lid, you’ll find any number of things, depending on the type of soap you used and the water you used. It might be firm, like Jello; it might be very watery; it might even be like liquid laundry detergent. Just stir it up a bit and it’s ready to be used.
My batch wound up being rather slimy. It had some slimy-feeling water with various sized pieces of white gelatinous stuff floating in it. Here’s what it looked like – I’m using a video here because images don’t really capture it.
Don’t worry about the texture – it’s completely fine. Just use a measuring cup and use one cup of the detergent per load of laundry. If it’s got “globs” in it, get a mix of the water and of the globs – it’ll break up very quickly in the washing machine and wash your clothes well. If you’re still concerned, you can mash up the globs quite easily, but I saw no reason to do so. "
