Heather and I got pioneer-ish again...this time it's homemade laundry detergent.
Supplies needed:
(From The Dollar Stretcher)
- Washing Soda
- Borax
- Bar of soap
- Water
(It looks like mozarella cheese, doesn't it? One of my kids almost ate some.)
Step 2: Boil 6 cups of water in a deep pot.
Step 3: Add grated soap and stir until dissolved.
Step 4: Add 1/2 C washing soda and 1/2 C borax. Stir over heat until dissolved.
Step 5: Remove from heat and pour into a large bucket.
Step 6: Add 4 more cups of hot water and mix well.
Step 7: Stir in 1 gallon plus 6 cups cold water and mix well.
Step 8: Let sit for 24 hours.
It's ready to go! Use 1/4 to 1/2 C per load of laundry. I have a large capacity washer, so I use 1/2 C. Despite my 13-year-old's fears, it worked great and did not disintegrate his clothes.
Cost:
One bar of soap = $0.30
Washing soda = $0.28
Borax = $0.18
Total cost for 64 loads (using 1/2 C) = $0.76
(Fab @ Sam's Club costs $7.12 for 64 loads)
You save about 90%!
Tips:
- Ivory soap costs the least and dissolves well, but you can also use Fels Naptha, Sunlight bar soap, Kirk’s Hardwater Castile, and Zote. Don’t use heavily perfumed soaps.
- Washing soda too some effort to find. In the end a local hardware store ordered it for us.
- Here are 10 more similar but different homemade laundry soap recipes.
P.S. Sorry it took me so long, Heather!
That's wicked cool!
ReplyDeleteI love this stuff!! Just a tip I have learned from using this recipe...about once or twice a week run vinegar threw your rinse cycle to get rid of soap scum on your spinner and inside the washer. Also, fels-napa works great as well as Ivory soap. Thanks for the reminder!
ReplyDeleteWanna try shaving cream next?? Found a recipe. And what is fels-naptha anyway. They don't teach this stuff in school.
ReplyDelete