One of the things that my husband did was buy a box of laundry detergent. Because he'd been using it for six months before that, it had about ten loads left by the time I got here. As someone who's always been on the "do-it-yourself" edge, I decided that while we were waiting for it to finish off, I would research making my own laundry detergent and fill the box up with my own concoction when it was empty.
I based my version off of DIY Natural's recipe.
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Supplies:
-1 (or 1.25) cups of Borax
-1 (or 1.25) cups of Soda Ash
-4.5 (or 5.625) ounces of Grated Ivory Soap
-A container for your finished product
The first step is to obtain your ingredients. The container was easy, since I was just using an old one. Any jar or box would work.
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I made my Soda Ash by hand the day before, and pulled out some old Ivory soap I wanted to get rid of. You can use any natural, Castille, or handmade soap in this recipe, which I usually do in my cleaning supplies, but I had some old Ivory bars I wanted to use up from before my soap-making days, and since the recipe said go for it, I did!
Grating the soap turned out to be a laborious process. I used a simple cheese grater, but I'm sure there are other ways to do it. The original recipe called for a 4.5 ounce bar of soap, but I found that if I grated two bars until they were just about stubs I couldn't hold anymore, I ended up with 5 and 5/8 ounces of grated soap -- exactly 125% of what the recipe called for -- so I simply added an extra quarter-cup of the other two ingredients and wha-la!
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Once you have all your ingredients, the next step is to add them together and stir for five minutes. Easy enough, right? WRONG. I kept having to stop because I was coughing from breathing in all the soap particles. While you're stirring, the volume of your mixture actually decreases a lot, partially from breaking the bits up more, partially from minimizing empty space, and partially from all the dust it releases into the air. I highly recommend doing this step outside or in a well ventilated room!
When I was done, the finished product fit nicely in my old box, so I threw a rubber-band around it and put it in the closet. I can't wait to use it!
For each load, you only need a tablespoon! That's right, just a tablespoon of the detergent. I'm estimating there's just over 3 cups of detergent in the box right now, which is about 50 tablespoons.
Let's take a look at the cost:
Box of Borax: $4.29
I used: 1/4
Borax: $1.08
Box of Baking Soda (to make Soda Ash): $1.35
I used: 2/3
Soda Ash: $0.90
Ivory Soap 10-Pack: $4.50
I used: 1.75 bars
Grated Soap: $0.79
Total Cost of Detergent: $2.77
That's about half what the original box of store-bought detergent cost! Now here's the kicker:
Homemade Detergent: $2.77
Makes 50 Loads
5.5 cents a load
Store-Bought Detergent: $5.50
Makes 15 Loads (as per box)
36 cents a load
Look at that! You've saved 85% of your cost of detergent! What's not to love?
Next time, I'll tell you about another way I found to cut costs on laundry.
Has anyone else tried this? How does it work? Any tips? Let me know in the comments!
.JPG)
Supplies:-1 (or 1.25) cups of Borax
-1 (or 1.25) cups of Soda Ash
-4.5 (or 5.625) ounces of Grated Ivory Soap
-A container for your finished product
The first step is to obtain your ingredients. The container was easy, since I was just using an old one. Any jar or box would work.
.JPG)
I made my Soda Ash by hand the day before, and pulled out some old Ivory soap I wanted to get rid of. You can use any natural, Castille, or handmade soap in this recipe, which I usually do in my cleaning supplies, but I had some old Ivory bars I wanted to use up from before my soap-making days, and since the recipe said go for it, I did!Grating the soap turned out to be a laborious process. I used a simple cheese grater, but I'm sure there are other ways to do it. The original recipe called for a 4.5 ounce bar of soap, but I found that if I grated two bars until they were just about stubs I couldn't hold anymore, I ended up with 5 and 5/8 ounces of grated soap -- exactly 125% of what the recipe called for -- so I simply added an extra quarter-cup of the other two ingredients and wha-la!
.JPG)
Once you have all your ingredients, the next step is to add them together and stir for five minutes. Easy enough, right? WRONG. I kept having to stop because I was coughing from breathing in all the soap particles. While you're stirring, the volume of your mixture actually decreases a lot, partially from breaking the bits up more, partially from minimizing empty space, and partially from all the dust it releases into the air. I highly recommend doing this step outside or in a well ventilated room!
For each load, you only need a tablespoon! That's right, just a tablespoon of the detergent. I'm estimating there's just over 3 cups of detergent in the box right now, which is about 50 tablespoons.
Let's take a look at the cost:
Box of Borax: $4.29
I used: 1/4
Borax: $1.08
Box of Baking Soda (to make Soda Ash): $1.35
I used: 2/3
Soda Ash: $0.90
Ivory Soap 10-Pack: $4.50
I used: 1.75 bars
Grated Soap: $0.79
Total Cost of Detergent: $2.77
That's about half what the original box of store-bought detergent cost! Now here's the kicker:
Homemade Detergent: $2.77
Makes 50 Loads
5.5 cents a load
Store-Bought Detergent: $5.50
Makes 15 Loads (as per box)
36 cents a load
Look at that! You've saved 85% of your cost of detergent! What's not to love?
Next time, I'll tell you about another way I found to cut costs on laundry.
Has anyone else tried this? How does it work? Any tips? Let me know in the comments!
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