Prudent and Practical

I frequently look for homemade household cleaning products and recently came across one for homemade laundry detergent.  It looked like a more eco friendly idea, fun, cheap, and practical at the same time so I decided to give it a try.

You’ll need to gather these supplies before you get started:

• 1 bar of soap (whatever you have around: Fals Neptha, etc.  I used Lever 2000 because DH bought a lifetime supply last summer)
• 1 box of washing soda (look for it in the laundry detergent aisle at your local grocer – it’s a bright yellow Arm & Hammer box and will contain enough for six batches)
• 1 box of borax (this isn’t necessary, but it’s easy to find so why not boost the cleaning power?)
• A 4-5 gallon bucket (preferably with a lid if you want to store it in the bucket)
• 3 gallons of tap water
• A big spoon to stir the mixture with
• A measuring cup
• A knife
• A 2+ quart pot (for melting the soap)

Instructions:

• Part 1: Pour approximately 4 cups of water into a pot.  Place on stove and heat on high until almost boiling.  While the water is heating, use your knife to SHAVE the bar of soap into the heating water.  (SHAVE – do not cut chunks of soap into the water – I learned this the hard way that small chunks do NOT melt!)  Keep the mixture just below a boil.  Keep stirring until the soap is dissolved.
• Part 2: Pour three gallons of hot water into your 4+ gallon bucket.  I used a spare one gallon milk jug.  Mix the hot soapy water slurry into the 4+ gallon bucket.  Stir to mix well.  Add one cup of washing soda and stir that in well.  Add one-half cup of borax and stir in well.  Leave overnight to gel up.
• Part 3:  In the morning check on your mix… it’ll be kind of like soft gelatin.   My mix was white since that was the color of the soap bar I used.  Dump one cup in the washing machine and wash your clothes!

Here, you can see its gelatinous texture

So, I plop one cup into the washing machine with warm water – no suds…hm.  At this point I’m glad I tried the recipe with towels instead of clothes.  Later, after I hear the washing machine stop, I run down to see the results.  The towels look fine.  I had tossed in a very dirty towel – one with stains that Era hasn’t been able to  get out – and the mix actually lightened the stains, but not the towels itself.  I like the smell – it reminds me of fresh hotel linens.

My only problem with the mix is the washing soda – the nearest store that carries it is 1 1/2 hours away.  I purchased two boxes while on a business trip – Jewel Osco in the Chicago area carries it for about $3.  You can purchase the washing soda on Arm & Hammer’s website, which will set you back about $10 just for one box by the time you pay shipping

The math has already been done…

Three gallons will clean about 48 loads of laundry. If you do this six times, you’ll have used six bars of soap ($0.99 each), one box of washing soda ($2.49 at our store), and about half a box of borax ($2.49 at our store, so $1.25) and make 288 loads of laundry. This comes up to a cost of right around three cents a gallon, or a savings of $70.

Thanks to Trent over at the Simple Dollar for this great idea!

Stay tuned for homemade fabric softener and homemade dryer sheets.