What I'm Making - Laundry Detergent

One thing that frustrates me beyond measure is the cable TV company.  They charge whatever they want, which is outRAGEous, they raise their rates whenever the wind blows, then I have to call and complain to get my bill lowered and it just puts me in a surly mood. 

 

What's worse than the cost of cable TV?  The cost of laundry detergent!  I noticed this week, our local department type store has a popular brand of liquid laundry detergent on sale for $11.48.  They claim it is the 53-68 load size bottle.  Using the max end of their estimate it'll cost $0.16/load.

 

I've been making my own laundry detergent for about a month or so now.  The items in the photo below cost me approximately $10.  The recipe calls for 1 c. Borax, 1 c. soda to one bar of soap which works out to about $0.05/load but, that is a little much for me so I  use 2c. Borax, 2c. soda to one bar of soap so we'll say $0.10/load.  A dime per load! I'm saving over a nickel on every single load of laundry!

 

It takes like 15 minutes to make.  I grate my bar of soap on an old hand grater I picked up at Goodwill.  I put that into my food processor with the 2 cups and the other 2 cups to chop it up really fine.  I store it in a plastic gallon jar Jeremy brought home from work but, you could use an ice cream pail.  2 Tbsp. per load is all it takes.

 

I use it on my whites, it works better than the bleach alternatives soaps I have used in the past.  I still do add some regular bleach. 

 

I use it on Jeremy's work clothes.  I do use Dawn dishsoap as a pretreater (this is not something new).

 

I use it with my towels.  The smell GREAT.  And we do not wash a towel after each use.  To each their own - I'm clean when I use the towel, no?  Towels used to smell a little funky.  That does NOT happen anymore.

 

I have also made this with Ivory soap, for sensitive (baby) skin and it worked well.

 

My clothes are cleaner.  They smell fresher.  They feel softer.  And I know what I'm washing with.

 

I used this site to answer all of my questions. 

 

I did try the liquid version of this and I did not like it. 

1.  It has to be cooked on the stove.

2.  It all has to be poured into a bucket, then you add water, add water add water.

3.  I transferred it from the bucket into gallon jars = OH!!  WHAT A MESS.

4.  You have to add water, add water, add water.

5.  I had to wait 24 hours to use.

6.  It makes a gelatinous mess that is hard to measure from the bottle.

I hope you'll let me know if you try it!

Next on my list to try:  Woolen dryer balls!