Homemade

I seem to be living a little more "natural" lately. I'm not sure what is prompting the change. We've always been big DIYers, but until I start posting about hiking barefoot through the forest I don't think there is any cause for alarm. Haha:)

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I decided to make my own laundry soap! I saw a post about it on someone's blog and it kind of looked like fun so I thought I'd try it out. I just went to YouTube and searched for "homemade laundry soap" and got tons of how-to videos. I looked through a couple and picked one recipe to try out. You can make powder or liquid. I think the powder is easier to make, but I prefer liquid soap.

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One reason I did it was because I love trying out new things like that, but here is the main reason.

That would be nine loads of laundry in ten days. 9 in 10. And it wasn't an overly "messy" week. T and Bug are the main offenders. T b/c he has his office clothes, sports clothes, and work around the house clothes. Bug b/c she is so messy she sometimes goes through 2 or 3 outfits a day.

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I try to do laundry every Wednesday, but I was waiting for the soap to set up so it ended up being 10 days between laundry days this time. Plus the next day I had to do three loads to wash our sheets and blankets so it was really 12 loads in 11 days. We average about 8 loads of laundry a week so we go through detergent REALLY quickly.

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One website I found said homemade soap costs about 2 cents a load as opposed to 21 cents a load from store bought soap. Another website claimed 1 cent vs. 71 cents. I guess it has to do with what kind you buy...and my favorite is not the cheap kind. So if I am doing 8 loads of laundry a week I will be saving $1.52 to $5.60 a week, depending on which website is accurate, which is $79.04 to $291.20 a year! There are a lot better things I can think of to buy with $291 dollars than laundry soap. :)

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The other reason I did it is because T saw an article that was talking about how much money people waste on detergent because 90% of stains and dirt come out with water alone.

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So here is what I did. It was really easy. It was 1 cup of 20 Mule Team Borax...

1 cup of Arm and Hammer Washing Soda...not baking soda, washing.

And 2/3 of a bar of Fels Naptha. The soap was the hardest part b/c you have to grate it with a cheese grater, which really wasn't that hard at all, it just took a few minutes. The soap is yellow so it looks just like cheese when you are grating it...Bug found out it wasn't cheese, the hard way. Maybe that will teach her to stop sneaking her little fingers up into whatever I'm cooking. :) The "detergent" ends up smelling like this bar of soap so if you like that smell you will like it. I like it. It's not overpowering, just a nice clean smell. All the websites say you can use whatever kind of soap you like though, Dove, Ivory, etc., but Fels Naptha is a little more "heavy duty".

So you just boil all those ingredients together with 12 cups of water until all the soap has dissolved and then let it sit on the stove for 15 minutes. Then you pour it into a five gallon bucket and fill it up with water until you get about four gallons, and let it sit for 24 hours. It turns into a jello like substance. Then you stir it up to make it smooth and you can pour it into an empty detergent container. You need to shake the container before you use it each time, and you just put a cup in the washer.
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It was really easy, and kind of fun! Here's what mine looked like at the end.


I used it on all that laundry and it worked just fine! When you buy the ingredients you have to buy those boxes (only a few dollars) so I have enough ingredients to make soap for the next several years. We'll see how long it takes to use it all up. :)