Tuesday, April 16, 2013

Homemade Laundry Detergent

First of all, I apologize for not updating in a couple weeks. It's been more of a mad house around here than usual! I'm working on finding my own sort of groove as far as Time vs. Home Management goes and it is quite a learning experience. On top of trying to settle into some good habits, I recently discovered that I REALLY like Game of Thrones....so that has caused me to just want to cuddle up on the couch and marathon every episode I can watch. Good Grief.

Anyway, I would like to share with you today a recipe for Homemade Laundry detergent that I discovered in many blogs and books on saving money...with a couple of my own tweaks. I love this recipe. At first, it took some getting used to because I was so used to buying expensive bottles of name brand detergent, that forced me to use cap-full in each load of laundry. With my family of five, we go through dirty laundry like my kids can tear through a bag of candy and I found myself buying detergent on a weekly basis.

With this recipe, I spend less than $25 and because it is made up of all laundry aids and enhancers and not fillers, you use one scoop per load and this 16lb concoction lasts for anywhere between 6-8 months. Amazing, in my opinion and anyone that knows me at all knows that I LOVE a good deal and fewer trips to the store.

 What You Need:

2lb container of Oxi Clean
4lb box Arm&Hammer Baking Soda 
4lb 12oz box of Borax
3lb 7oz box of Arm&Hammer Washing Soda
3 bars of Fels-Naptha laundry soap
Downy Unstoppables Scent Booster
Containers that can hold 16lbs of detergent. I use two dry food containers I got from the dollar store a while back and the container that the Oxi Clean came in.

Again, you can find similar recipes in many blogs and books on frugal living. To me, this was one of the most important changes I have made, thus far, to cut down on expenses. My friend, Katie, has a recipe that makes liquid detergent, so for those of you who prefer liquid, I will post that recipe later on.

The first thing I do is grate the bars of Fels-Naptha. This is probably the most tedious part of the process, but must be done regardless...so I get it out of the way.




Now that you have broken down your bars of soap, you have to get ready to mix everything together. It's much easier if you use a tall kitchen trash can and a very strong trash bag (both clean, of course!). Ensure there are no holes in your bag, otherwise you will end up with powder all over your floor...yes, it happened to me the first time I made my detergent...there was a tiny hole and as I was shaking my bag to mix everything up, a handful leaked out on my floor. The upside was that the whole living room smelled fresh!



When pouring the ingredients together in the bag, I just poured half of one ingredient in, the half of the next, and so on, until everything was in the bag. Then take the bag out of the can and, while holding the empty space at the top of the bag, twist the bag closed and give it a few shakes to mix everything up. This is 16lbs of detergent, so it will be pretty heavy and you do want to make sure it doesn't just rip your bag. If it would be easier, you could use a large cooking spoon and stir everything up while the bag is still in the can.

You will want to to tie the top of the bag in a knot and situate the bag so that you are able to cut a corner off the bottom (without all the soap spilling out). Then, carefully pour the detergent into your container or containers.

It may seem like a good bit of work, but it is WELL worth it in my opinion. I definitely prefer to take the time to do this over spending around $50 or so a month and having the run to the store constantly just to keep out laundry clean. Plus, I feel that my clothes are cleaner, brighter and have a pleasant smell. AND I'm saving money on fabric softener as well!




ENJOY!!!



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