How To Make Homemade Laundry Soap

If you would have told me ten years ago that I'd now be making my own laundry detergent on a Saturday afternoon for a good time...well, I'd have thought you were full on crazy. Funny how we change. But that's exactly what Darran and I were doing a couple of Saturdays ago...making homemade laundry soap. Happily.

What I used:
1 bar Fels-Naptha
2 cups washing soda
1 cup Borax
4 cups warm water
3 1/12 gallons warm water to add at the end
1 turkey brining bucket. It's a clean Home Depot bucket with a lid that I had. It's what I use to brine my turkey in at Thanksgiving...come on, everyone has a turkey brining bucket, right? Although, I'm not sure what I will do at Thanksgiving next year...OK, use any container with a lid, but be aware that this will be very thick and needs scooped out, not poured out.
1 scoop. I used an old Oh Yeah! Protein powder scoop I had saved, it's exactly half a cup. An old measuring cup, old laundry soap scoop, anything will work.

Add the 4 cups water to a large pot on medium heat.

Grate the Fels-Naptha into the water. Stir until liquefied. 

Add the washing soda. Stir.

Add the Borax. Stir.

Dump mixture and the 3 1/12 gallons of water into bucket or other container and stir.

Let sit, it will turn to a cool gel consistency.

I use 1/2 to 1 cup (which is 1 to 2 scoops) per load depending on what I'm washing. So far I'm extremely pleased with it, it works great! Comparing the cost of this to normal laundry soap, this is what I'll be sticking with.

Have you ever made your own laundry soap? Do you have a favorite recipe for it? Am I really the only one with a turkey brining bucket?