Laundry Detergent

So, I tend to be a little on the crazy side of things. I make all of our food from scratch (my husband has jumped on board and is excited to try making his own soda), use cloth diapers, and clean with vinegar. So, I want to know, how is it that I just heard of making my own laundry detergent? My friend Sara posted on her [private] blog about it and then she let me have some (to try out on our diapers) and it worked like a charm. I loved it! Then I did the cost calculations and found out that if I buy our detergent on clearance at Target it costs about 7.95 cents a load whereas making my own, assuming I am willing to buy part at Target and part at WinCo (two stores I go to the most), it costs 0.95 cents a load. That is seven cents a load. I know, seven cents doesn't sound like a lot but if you figure that I do about 12 loads of laundry a week (in the summer; in the winter it goes up to about 14 with the extra bedding) then you see that each week I am saving 84 cents (98 cents in the winter), which is $3.36 a month or about $45 a year. I suppose that to some it still doesn't sound like much but we are trying to save up for a house and I run a very tight budget so that is a ton of money for us. Plus, I looked into the ingredients and they are all natural things that have been around for many years. It was really easy (it only took about 25 minutes to make), here is how to do it:

Homemade Laundry Detergent

Ingredients and Supplies

1 bar Fels-Naptha Soap

5 gallons hot water, divided

1 cup washing soda

1/2 cup Borax

5 gallon bucket

Cheese grater

Sauce pan

Large spoon

Empty containers with lids (like old milk jugs)

1. Grate Fels-Naptha Soap.

2. Add grated soap to 4 cups warm water in saucepan. Heat on medium until soap is dissolved stirring constantly.

3. Fill 5-gallon bucket half full with hot tap water. Add Fels-Naptha solution, stir.

4. Combine washing soda and borax. Add to bucket and stir until completely dis

solved.

5. Add more hot tap water until you have 5 total gallons of liquid in the bucket. Stir and cool overnight.

6. Pour into containers. To use, dilute with water to 50% solu

tion. Shake before use because it will gel.

If you want to you could add about 5 drops of essential oil per gallon once the mixture has cooled. We didn't add the oil because my husband is not a fan of things that have scent added to them and our youngest son has sensitive skin so things like that tend to cause him to break out.

I live in a small apartment so I put the concentrated liquid into old gallon containers (rinsed out milk or vinegar jugs) then I have one half-gallon container for the diluted soap that is in use. I measured out 4 cups and marked it on the container with marker so when I need to refill, I know how much soap to add then add water from there to the top.

The instructions say to use 1 cup per load but I am trying out 3/4 cup instead (because I am cheap). No problems yet.