Making your own laundry soap

I have been reading about people making their own laundry soap for awhile now and at first i was skeptical. but i decided to take the plunge and try it. I went out and bought the supplies. Borax (approximately 2.99-3.99 a box, found at Target), Washing Soda (approximately 2.99-3.99 a box, found at Coborns), Ivory soap (or Fels Naptha, you need one bar if you use Ivory, i bought a 4 pack for less then $4.00 but I cant remember how much for sure from Coborns) water and optional is essential oils, this is just to make it smell good. i got one bottle at the health store for 4.99.
what you do is take 6 cups water and melt your own bar of Ivory soap (we shaved it with our cheese grater)after that is done you add in your 1/2 cup of borax and 1/2 cup of washing soda, stir till dissolves. Add in 6 cups hot tap water to your jug (some use an empty kitty liter container, we used an old oil container) add in soap mixture, then add in 2 gallons plus 6 cups tap water, then add essential oils till it smells to your liking. then stir, loosely cover. let stand 2 hours to cool, stir then you can use it! we poured ours into our old containers. the one thing we had happen was it turned to jello a bit. so we mixed it up with a hand mixer, but i am told that is okay to use like that as well. we have used it often and it seems to work just fine, for heavily soiled loads add in more borax or washing soda.
it is amazing tha tyou can make this much laundry soap for soo cheap and spend a hefty amount on laundry soap at the store. Try it and let me know how well you do!