I used HB's recipe and doubled it as she did, here is my findings as follows. My soap was goopy and did not leave any scent, those would normally be fine for me but as you read the rest of my post you will see why I decided to go with what we have been using in the past As follows is what I wrote on my Facebook for those that had been interested.
We buy Bio-Kleen's free and clear laundry soap from Azure Standard at about $71.85 for a five gal bucket. Which is 640 loads for a standard machine (double for an efficient machine) and that includes shipping. This lasts our family of 6 adults 6 months.
My soap costs about $5 for a five gallon bucket concentrated. But even with it being concentrated I had to use quite a bit in order to get the clothing clean, without a nice scent. That gives me about 100 loads per bucket. When using homemade laundry soap, we need to add in vinegar to help get things clean and fresh. White Distilled vinegar costs around $5 a gallon here, and because of our water, we would have to use at least 1/2 cup each load. That means roughly 2 gallons of vinegar a month. Maybe more I don't think I figured that one right. That equals $60 for six months time, plus $30 for the soap, my total for 6 months of laundry (for 6 adults not just Robert and I) would be $90 using homemade soap.
The Bio-Kleen soap has none of that harsh chemicals that I am trying to avoid, plus it has a great scent that lingers. So I think it is easy to see what I have chosen. I will use half and half until I use up the soap I just made, and then I will see from there if using half and half would be cost effective at all.
