Homemade Laundry Detergent

Man oh Man oh Man ........ Savings abound!!!!! I decided to start this blog to show off some of my homemade goodies as times goes on through the year. I absolutely LOVE home made stuff and I LOVE making it. All of my projects I'm doing through out the year will be on here. Everything from my Garden to Laundry Detergent.

So now on with the laundry detergent. I actually found this on Pinterest. http://www.howdoesshe.com/cheaper-and-better-diy-laundry-detergent is the actual site. This is her recipe and it is WONDERFUL. Thank you for posting. All of the instructions are on the website to actually make it.

1 (4 lb 12 oz) Box of Borax- Found in the detergent aisle

1 (3 lb 7 oz) Box of Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda- Found in the detergent aisle

1 (3 lb) Container of OxyClean- Found in the detergent aisle. (This is optional but I highly recommend adding it)

2 (14.1 oz) Bars of Zote Soap- Found in the detergent aisle (we chose to do pink for the scent but the white would be just fine. You can also use Fels Naptha)

2 (2 lb) Boxes of Arm & Hammer Baking Soda- Found in the cooking aisle (You could also get 1 4 lb box, we just couldn’t find it when we went)

1-2 (55 oz) Bottle of Purex Crystals Fabric Softener- Found in the detergent aisle (This is 100% optional. Like I said, my laundry detergent must smell good and I really like soft towels)

I have to say the hardest part of this whole thing is actually grating the soap. Use a fine grater and you can grate the soap in about 10 minutes. I only used 1 Purex Crystals but I think I am going to put the 2nd one in.

This whole recipe made a HUGE bucket of detergent. 326.2 Oz  (20.3 lbs) to be exact!!!!! Now here is the REALLY interesting part. You only use 1-2 Tablespoons of detergent to wash clothes. 2T = 1oz. :-) That is 326 loads of laundry...... WOW. Now Im going to make it even MORE awesome for you......

Quantity	Ingredients	Weight	Ounces	Total Price
1	Box of Borax	4 lb 12 oz	76	$3.52
1	Arm and Hammer Washing Soda	3 lb 7 oz	55	$3.74
1	OxyClean	3 lb	48	$1.99
2	Fels Naptha	14.1 oz	28.2	$1.97
1	Purex Crystals	55 oz	55	$4.50
2	Arm and Hammer Baking Soda	4 lbs	64	$2.07
			326.2	$17.79
		Total/Load	0.05

Yep... you read that right. It cost 17.79 for all the ingredients that I used. (Thanks Costco!) It made 326.2 oz of detergent. 17.76 / 326.2oz = 0.05 cents per oz. Remember what I said above? It takes 1-2T to wash clothes? 2T=1oz ...... 1 oz = 0.05 :-)

Now ..... Im going to show you what I WAS Spending!!!! This really hurts.....

					# of Loads	oz /load	Amt / OZ
1	Gain Liquid Detergent	170 oz	170	$15.00	110.00	1.55	$0.09	$0.14
1	Downy Fabric Softner	170	170	$13.00	197.00	0.86	$0.08	$0.07
1	OxyClean Tab	19	19	$6.99	18.00	1.06	$0.37	$0.39
								$0.59
				$34.99

Yep.... .59 cents per load. We do about 10 loads of laundry per week. That is almost 6.00 per WEEK!!!!! Doesn't sound like much till you look at it like this.....
5.90 * 52 = 306.8 / year - Holy Cow!!!!!!!!

Home made detergent = .50 * 52 = 26.00 / year. I truly think I can live with those savings :-)