Laundry Soap

Last winter I really ramped up my money saving efforts.  I tried to make as many food items homemade as I could and even started to make some non-food items from scratch.  Most of the non-food things were laundry related.  I made dry laundry soap, liquid laundry soap, stain remover and fabric softener.  Some worked better than others and some were easier to make than others.  The stain remover clogged up the spray bottle so it was too much hassle for me to use.  I felt like I used up the fabric softener too quickly with not really noticeable results so quit making that too.  The two things that did stick were the liquid and the dry laundry soaps.  All of my homemade laundry solutions came directly from One Good Thing by Jillee with no modifications of my own.  The detergents seem to work fine so there is no reason to change them.  Her recipe for dry detergent can be found here and the liquid can be found here. 

 

She claims the dry detergent will last around a year and cost $30 to make.  I didn't keep track last time I made it but I think it lasted 10 months or so.  And this last time the ingredients, with nothing on sale and no coupons used, came to $27! That's good enough for me.  Last time I bought liquid soap at the store it cost $14 I think and lasted less than 3 months.  If you know me, I cheaped out on the store bought liquid soap too, there are much more expensive options out there. 

 

For dry soap I use:

 

1 box Borax

1 box washing soda

2 tubs Oxyclean

3 bars Fells Naptha

1 container scent crystals (ex. Downy Unstoppables)

 

It does take some time and effort to make and I spent the rest of the day sneezing from all the dust that was swirling around my kitchen.  The Fells Naptha has to be grated or broken down into very small pieces.  Per my online research, there are a couple ways to do this.  Some people have said sticking it in the microwave for a few seconds softens it up enough to break apart easily.  I cut it into pieces and feed it through the grater on my food processor.  In the picture above, I had tried to just grind it up with the blade but it didn't work very well. 

I dump everything into a large wash pan and mix it a little with a spoon.  An extra step that I do is to run it through the food processor in batches to make sure it is really mixed up.  Some of the bigger chunks of Fells Naptha get broken down a bit more too. 

 

In the end I have two ice cream pails full of dry laundry soap that lasts for months!!  It only takes about 2 Tablespoons of soap per load.  It feels pretty good to make something so easy that gets used every day.