Laundry soap part 2

Made a new batch of laundry soap. This time I grated 1/2 of the bar soap with 4 qts of water into a sauce pan, heated it until the soap was all dissolved, then mixed it in a bucket with the 1/2cup of borax and 1/2 cup of washing soda. I used only 6 qts of water overall, want to see how using less water works.
I also use 1 cup of vinegar with each load, it makes the clothes a little more sparkly looking.

and now for clean hands.. Hand Soap!

My son was complaining that the bathroom was out of hand soap. So instead of going out to buy some, I told him let's make some.

We took 1/3 of a bar of Fels Naptha soap and grated it really small. Then I put it in a stainless steel pot, added 1 cup or so of water, and heated it up. I kept stirring it to keep it from burning. It became really foamy, but once all the flakes were melted I took it off heat to let it cool. Once it cooled a little i poured it into the squirt jar I had from the last store bought batch.

Well, a few hours later it has solidified into a semi-solid mass, too thick to use. Out comes the pot again, I used a knife and a little water to get the solidified soap out of the bottle, added 2 more cups of water, and stirred it again. Once it was all mixed and foamy again, I poured it back into the squirt bottle (and a 2nd jar to be recycled because now there is approximately a quart of soap).

Works quite well. Has a nice mellow smell.