New Year Frugality...Make Your Own Laundry Detergent!

Yes, you might think the idea sounds really crazy...like I did when I first heard about "crazy people" making their own detergent....but now I am a believer....read on....

The first thing I have decided to continue through the new year is making my own laundry detergent. At first I thought I would be really complicated and not worth my time but then I did a quick search on you tube and found the process to make a "powder detergent" was super easy and surprisingly fast. In case you'd like to try and make you own her is what I discoverd after using up 3 batches....I washed 93 loads of laundry for about $8.00!!!!

The process is VERY SIMPLE..Here is how you can make you own.....
1. The first thing you need to do is choose which soap you want to use in your detergent...Some use Ivory soap, but I prefer to use Fels-Naptha (pure laundry soap). I like the smell much better than the ivory. You can use a simple grater to grate the soap. If you use a food processor makes this chore super speedy. When I made my first round of detergent I only had a grater available to me so I grated is as small as I could then put it one cup at time into my little food chopper to chop my pieces even smaller. This is a more time consuming way, but I still made three batches in an hour of my time......Just last week I made up another batch with a food processor and it took me literally 15 minutes...that included clean up!!!
2. After choosing which soap...grate or process the entire bar.
3. After you get your soap to a powdery consistency then your ready to add ONE cup of BORAX and ONE cup of the WASHING SODA.....just mix it all together and put it in a sealed container.....and there you are super great laundry detergent......

 ***Here are a couple hints I learned while using this detergent on my first 93 loads of laundry.....I turn on the water then add the detergent mix (I used one heaping tablespoon for most all loads, I saw up to 1 to 2 tablespoons is used...personal preference...) let the water run a few seconds more then added the laundry in. NOTE: This will not suds up like commercial soap...just so you don't panic...

***I store my detergent in an old ice cream bucket...work just fine...you don't need anything fancy...an old rubbermaid bowl with a lid will do.

*** I bought the Washing Soda ( 55oz box) $3.09 and Fels-Naptha ($1.29 per bar) at Kroger. The Borax came from Walmart (76 oz box) $3.36. I found all of these things in the laundry isle.

*** I realize that you could buy the super cheap detergent for less that you can make this...but with 3 with our outdoor lifestyle of mud, grass stains, and who knows what else I have to get the good stuff. I would usually get ALL or Tide at the store...so compared to those quality detergents it does save me money and doesn't require a lot of resource or a lot of my time. Again personal preference comes into play...just an idea to think for the new....Making your own deteregent!

DANIELLE