I go to several different websites each day, and one of them is www.cheapskatemonthly.com. As a person who has been in some serious debt, and have paid off large, large chunks of it, I seek out support from those who have been there. Mary Hunt racked up over $100,000 in credit card debt, and hadn't told her husband. Yowch! She lived to tell the tale of paying it ALL back on her website and in her monthly newsletter.
Anyway, the website she has lots and lots of time and money saving household tips. (Click on the 'Everyday Cheapskate' section.) One of the tips is making your own laundry detergent. I was seriously skeptical, but also intrigued. As I'm gearing up to leave my career and head back to college, I'm looking at all kinds of ways to simplify and reduce my daily expenses. So I thought why not, I'll give it a shot!
I went to www.soapsgonebuy.com to order the old fashioned ingredients:
Fels Naptha soap
20 Mule Team Borax
Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda (not baking soda)
You can make liquid or powder detergent - I chose the powdered because the recipe was so easy and didn't involve all that boiling water and mixing and cooling, not to mention needing a 5-gallon bucket.
With the Fels Naptha soap you have a couple of choices - you can buy a bar for $1.59 and grate it yourself (by using some elbow grease) or you can purchase a pre-grated 1-pound bag for $5.95. I of course chose the easier pre-grated bag...
1 cup grated Fels Naptha soap
1/2 cup Borax
1/2 cup Super Washing Soda
Mix in an airtight container, shake well. (I'm using an old spaghetti sauce jar.) Use 2 Tablespoons for small loads, 3 Tablespoons for large loads, heavy fabrics or soiled loads.
I've been using this for three days now and literally can't tell the difference between my store-bought and my homemade. Don't know if I'm going to swear off pre-made detergent for the rest of my life or anything, but will for sure use the rest of my supplies and see how long my $16 investment lasts.
3/12 EDIT:
I paid about $16 for the products above, and used only a fraction of them using this recipe for laundry detergent. I have enough left of each product to make many, many more batches.
I usually buy liquid laundry detergent from Costco about every 2 months and use the generic fragrance free brand. (I have a toddler, which means laundry almost every day.) Each large Costco tub costs about $16 as well. I'm going to gauge the cost effectiveness of the homemade detergent by how long these products last me compared to my usual brand. This will determine if it's more cost effective to switch to homemade or if the Costco brand will suffice. I think the homemade detergent is more Eco-friendly - so if the costs are comparable I may continue to use it. I do love Seventh Generation products, but they are quite expensive!
6 comments:
Wow, I was interested to read about your blog. I found it kinda cool actually. It seems to be quite pricey though.
I was wondering, have you ever heard of Laundry Pure? It is a device you hook up to your washer and all you need to use is cold water dirty clothes. It eliminates the need for detergents, reducing allergens, electricity costs and is better for the environment. It saves money big time over doing laundry the conventional way.
soapsgonebuy.com has a package you can buy with the soap already grated (bonus! yay!) with all the ingredients and they give you a break on the price too! it's like $25 for all the ingedients, all you need is the water and bucket!
We've been making our own soap for many years and have been very happy. How ever I about had a heart attack when I saw you spent $16 dollars on supplies. Today I purchased all my supplies for soap at walmart for $6.22. Fels soap $1.12, washing soda $2.12, borax $2.98. Most grocery stores sell the supplies.
Anonymous - yes, this was a very expensive start! The nearest WalMart is a 45 minute drive, so I opted to buy the ingredients online at soapsgonebuy.
Trying to find the washing soda and fels naptha soap has proven to be difficult in my area - but I'm always on the lookout for them! I haven't yet found a reliable source for both, short of driving almost an hour to WM, I'm having to buy some ingredients online.
I actually just found all the ingredients at Meijer including the Fels naptha soap. I know it's a north-eastern store, but if any of you live in that area you can find it all there for relatively cheap- including a 5-gallon bucket if you want to make the liquid.
This Homemade Laundry Soap is very good. I can not beat the price for a laundry soap. However, as one of the individuals spoke about Laundry pure. It brings down the price to zero cost. At first you pay for Laundry pure, but after a little time, it becomes free. It is the latest product. Infact we have been selling a lot of these. I would be happy to share more information if anyone wants it. Email is familyhometies@yahoo.com
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