My husband works in construction, you know, outside, in the heat...and when he comes home in the dead of summer, well he doesn't always smell laundry fresh. In years past we've discovered another problem. For some reason during the summer his tee shirts tend to "sour" or smell like soured laundry after he's only worn them for an hour or so. Now at first he tried to say it was because I was leaving them in the washer too long before transferring them to the dryer. I'll be honest, maybe so. I only have two toddlers and either worked or attended college over the past summers. But, who is perfect any way. I made a better effort at getting his clothes right into the dryer so that we could solve the problem. Any change? NOPE! This summer it got to the point he was going through three and four shirts a day because he cannot stand the smell.
So for the sake of my beloved husband, I, the skeptic, went on a mission. I cannot claim the idea behind the soap, because it is not mine. However, I am dying to share this information. I did a little searching (mostly on Pinterest) for ideas I would be most likely to surrender my skepticism to. What I found was inspiring...another unwilling soul! This gave me peace of mind and made me slightly more willing to try the soap. I somewhat followed her directions, except I made less...still skeptical of the whole idea.
So here is what I bought:
1-76 ounce Box of 20 Mule Borax Detergent Booster (I only used half of the box)
1-55 ounce Box of Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda (I only used half of the box)
1-64 ounce Box of Arm & Hammer Pure Baking Soda
1-5.5 ounce Bar of Fels Naptha (I would love to find Pink Zote soap because it makes a prettier mix, but I guess they don't sell it near where I live)
1-20 ounce Container of OxyClean (1.3 pounds)
1-28 ounce Container of Purex Crystals (these come in three or four different scents, just choose which you like best)
All of the items can be found on the detergent aisle and most are in close proximity to each other.
I then used my fine cheese grater to grate the Fels Naptha soap. A tedious job, but if I was going to solve our dilemma it was necessary. I thought it would take longer, but in reality it probably only took ten minutes to do this part.
Once the bar soap was grated I used a large mixing bowl to combine the ingredients in. I will warn you, I sneezed like crazy because of all the powder. If you have breathing issues or allergies I would suggest using a mask during this part.
This is what it looked like after I mixed all the items. (Sorry for the shadow in the photo.)
I used the Purex Crystals container to put some of the soap in for pouring out of and put the rest in a plastic tub with a lid for storage. The Purex Crystals container lid has three lines in it, for a regular load I fill it to the first line. When I'm doing a load of towels or something I feel like needs a boost, I will fill it to the second line. (The blog where I got my idea said that the lines are equivalent to 1-2 tablespoons and that is all you need.) 
I made the soap the last weekend of August. On average I do 8-10 loads of laundry per week. The Purex Crystals container of soap lasted for two weeks. After filling it a second time, I expect to have enough to fill the container three more times! That's including the fact that I've given samples to two friends so that they can try it and put some in a vase in the bathroom (makes a great air freshener). If you do the math that's 10+ weeks that this batch will last. Here's the best part it...only cost me $20 to buy the supplies to make it. I would spend that in a month on liquid laundry soap! And on top of that I have enough 20 Mule Borax and Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda for another batch. After I make the second batch I will be buying enough to make a double batch every time!
The true test: No more soured shirts for Hubby! Talk about a happy man...
