Frugal Franny Friday

I'm thinking of making this a weekly feature...is that something you are interested in, my dear readers? (This would be a great time to de-lurk & let me know who you are, you lurkers you. In other words, comments comments comments, I love me some comments :))
I would post a frugal recipe or tip & maybe a question every now & then...might put mr linky to work (if I can figure him out) if y'all like the idea.

So today's Frugal Franny recipe is my first frugal recipe find. Laundry soap is soooo expensive & not so great for the environment. I searched online to see if there was a cheaper alternative & found several. Most of them made liquid detergent, but I've always used powder so I went that route. Plus to make the liquid stuff you need a five gallon bucket to store it & I just don't want that much detergent sitting around (Eli is just waaaay to good at opening things he shouldn't, if you know what I mean.)
So I tweaked the original recipe to suit my tastes & it's what I've used for about the last year.

1 bar '>Fels Naphta soap
1/2 heaping Cup Borax
1/2 heaping cup Super Washing Soda
Grate the Fels Naphta, discarding the last bit of the bar (which, if you do grate it, might make you loose a fingertip or 2. Not that I know anything about how that could happen...nope, not me!)
If it grates into little curls, smoosh them up so they will dissolve better. (a food processor would be very handy here, unfortunately I don't own one so I have to do it the manual way.)
Add Borax & Washing Soda & stir.
Use 1 tbsp per load, for heavily soiled clothes use 1- 1/2 to 2 tbsp.

You could use other kinds of soap if you have sensitive skin or anything, just your usual bar soap works just dandy. However, my hubby is convinced those would gunk up the pipes over time so we don't go that route. I could find nothing on the Internet about anybody having this problem though.
I wash most of my clothes in cold water to save energy & this mixture works fine for me. I do run just a little hot water to dissolve the soap before I switch to cold & add the clothes.
If you are interested in the liquid recipe just Google homemade laundry detergent & you should find it pretty quick.