Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Recipe For Clean Clothes

We spend about $5.00 on laundry detergent for 32 loads. That's just over 15 cents per load. It's not too bad, but I knew that I could do better. Thanks to this site, I found a laundry detergent recipe that cuts my per load soap costs in half.

This is what my laundry soap container used to look like...
I added a little decorative paper (left over from C's snowflake-themed 1st birthday party), some glue, a dash of ribbon and insto-presto, a lovely recycled container.
The recipe I used was #4:
2 cups grated bar of soap (I used Dr. Bronner's Baby Mild Bar Soap)
1 cup Borax (available in the detergent aisle)
1 cup washing soda (also known as soda ash - not baking soda)

Mix well. Use 2 Tblsp. per load

It only took me 10 minutes to completely grate the soap, mix ingredients and put everything away. I'll cut my costs even further by using a less expensive bar of soap, such as Kirk's Castile. Also, we have a high-efficiency machine, and this soap works wonders.

Saving 8 cents a load may not seem like much... but, if you wash even 5 loads a week, you'll save $20 over the course of a year. $20 is a shopping extravaganza at the thrift store for me!

7 comments:

Jamie @ Bungalow Bee said...

My sister has made laundry detergent before but it was in a 5 gallon bucket. How long does that little container last you? We have a HE washer, too. I'd love to make my own detergent! I'll have to use your recipe :)

Diane said...

I'm less than 6 loads into it... but it should last 32 loads.

Mary Child said...

Okay, do you have a doctorate degree in home economics? That is AMAZING.

And why IS Tide so freakin' expensive? I buy it at Costco, and even then, it seems to cost a small fortune!

Maybe, just maybe, I'll start grating one of these days...

As usual, VERY IMPRESSIVE!!!

Danielle said...

I was hoping you'd get to sharing about laundry detergent:-) Love the container too!

Thanks for the tip on my blog...I checked out the site...cool ideas!

casch said...

You are AWESOME!! Such a thrifty gal~I believe your Mother must have raised you right!

Danielle said...

I made my soap today...finally! Can't wait to try it out. I used Fels Neptha for the bar soap...it smells wonderful. I even made a cute container...a little bigger than yours! I do a lot more laundry, so I used a big ice cream bucket. I'll try it out for a little before I blog about it. Thanks again!

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