For the longest time I’ve wondered about making my own laundry soap in an effort to save money and try to be “greener”. Plus, if you don’t already know I kinda like to make EVERYTHING myself. 😉
We have had a high efficiency washer for several years so I was very nervous about attempting anything that might damage it. Several years have passed since I first read about people making their own detergents so I think if there was a problem I would have certainly found out by now. The main thing about the high efficiency washers is that the soap needs to be low-suds. Marketing has brain washed us into thinking we need lots of suds to get things clean. Not true.
Therefore, I decided to give it a shot myself after seeing many posts on Pinterest (yes, there’s that lovely site again!)
I decided to go with this recipe and instructions shown on DIYNatural website:
- 1 Cup Borax Laundry Pretreater
- 1 Cup Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda
- 1 Bar of shredded bar of Ivory Bar Soap
 (I shredded mine in the food processor)
Mix the ingredients. Add 1-2 TBSP to each load. That’s it. Seriously.
Assuming this works out okay it really will save a good deal of money. Not sure what these ingredients would cost in the local store (I ordered online at Alice.com) but according to the DIYNatural website this mix costs roughly $0.05 per load (using 1TBSP). I thought I got a pretty good deal on Tide the other day using a coupon; it was $4 for a 50oz bottle that is supposed to wash 32 loads. That ends up being a little more than $0.13 with tax and that’s on sale with a coupon; I think with the “usual” cost my breakdown is about $0.20 a load. So, if I only did 1 load a day and started using the DIY mix I would save almost $55 a year! Doesn’t sound like a fortune over the course of a year but it all adds up my friends.
My husband has never really been into my DIY antics when it comes to cleaners and such so I think I’m going to try this out for awhile, see how well it works and see if he notices. (Haha!) I’ll be posting another DIY recipe for homemade fabric softener too!
Leave a Reply