Bottling my Laundry Soap

Well, I took the lid off my laundry soap this morning

 and found it the consistency of cold jello.

The directions now say to mix this gel half and half with water 

and put it into your containers.

For a while I used a large wooden spoon 

to cut and break it up and try to stir it.

I was amazed just how thick it was!

After a while, 

I just rolled up my sleeves and plunged my arm into the stuff,

This made it a lot easier to break it up, 

using my fingers and hands.

Then, using a funnel, I tried filling my bottles half full, 

as per the instructions.

But the stuff was still so thick, 

it wouldn't go through the funnel. 

Clumps of gel kept clogging up the funnel, 

refusing to go down.

Another problem was figuring out when the bottles were half full.

You can't see through them,

and looking down into them was "iffy."

So next I tried lifting the "clods" with a fork.

This worked, but it was still slow going.

There has to be a better way, I thought...

 Then I figured it out.

I filled my measuring cup about 1/2 full of gel, 

simply scooping it out of the bucket.

Then, using my hands, 

I reached into the cup

 and squeezed the gel through my fingers,

breaking it up into smaller pieces.

Next, I added an equal amount of cold water to the gel in the cup,

and poured it into my detergent containers.

I didn't bother mixing it, I just poured it in.

 This worked GREAT!

The water made the gel slip easily into the containers.

It also made it possible to get equal amounts 

of gel and water into the container.

That had been difficult because I couldn't see through the bottles.

Soon I ran out of empty bottles.

My mother drinks coffee and I save the plastic containers.

I grabbed a couple of those, 

and filled two with the half gel & half water mixture.

I labeled them clearly 

so we won't wonder later what in the heck this is!

This is how many bottles I filled with one half of the gel.

And here is the other half of the gel, still in the bucket.

I won't add water to this.

I'll just put a tight lid on it and store it like this.

I'll check it in a month or so to be sure it's not evaporating.

So, of course, now I had to try the soap.

The instructions call for using 1/4 cup for a FRONT loading machine.

(Use 5/8 cup for a top loader)

Using a measuring cup, 

I discovered that 1/4 cup is exactly up to the line on the A&H bottles.

So this must be the same measurement used for A&H Laundry Detergent. 

Cool!

Remember to SHAKE THIS WELL before each use!

I used this on a load of whites.

They came out nice and clean and sweet smelling!

A pair of socks were dirty from walking in them around the house.

Normally I would spray them with Spray & Wash.
I didn't spray and wash them, because I wanted to see if this detergent
would get them clean.

It did just as good a job as any other detergent.

Sooo.. that's it.

Yesterday's mixing took about 30 minutes.

Today's bottling took about another 30 minutes 

and would have been quicker

had I figured out how to deal with the problems sooner.

I'm very pleased with the results.

I'll report back in a month on how my clothes are looking.

Please feel free to leave a comment or question.

And remember,