making my own laundry detergent

I have been making my own laundry detergent for months now. I don't actually watch every penny I spend, so I don't know whether or not I am saving money by doing it. I assume I am, though. I do it because I LOVE the idea of making it myself, knowing exactly what's in it, keeping it simple.

It cleans well. My husband is a blacksmith with black dust all over his clothes, so we would know if it didn't. My recipe came from a friend, but I have looked them up on the internet and they are all very similar. According to most recipes, 1 to 2 tblsp of detergent is sufficient for load.

Here is all you need:
I use 1 cup of borax, 1 cup of washing soda, and 1 bar of ivory soap per batch. I don't have a food processor, so I use my cheese grater to grate the bar of soap into really fine shreds. I usually mix up 2 batches at a time and keep it in the container with the blue lid. I use a couple tblsp. on Troy's work clothes, and 1 tblsp. on most everything else.