Happy Monday! I finally had a weekend halfway off to catch up on some much needed house work and to run some errands. My home had been so neglected…but it’s ok! I’ve never been so ok with my house being such a mess. It’s a mess because I’ve been so busy…being busy is good! It means that I am living a life! Don’t get me wrong, I still wish I had a couple of little minions to help with laundry! 😉
Speaking of laundry, I hate it. I hate washing it. I hate drying it. I hate folding it. I hate it. I don’t know how me, my husband and my 5 year old can accumulate so much dirty laundry within a week. I. Don’t. Get. It. I’ll tell you what else I hate…I hate buying laundry soap. I’m pretty sure most laundry soap we buy is 95% water. It’s way too expensive and if you buy the cheap stuff your clothes suffers the consequences. SMH!
About a year ago, I decided to start making my own laundry soap. I started making liquid soap and that worked out ok. I could make lots of soap at a time and I saved lots of money. I just didn’t like the texture of the soap. So I eventually perfected my own dry detergent. It makes about 25 cups of laundry which equals about 200 loads of laundry. Shocking huh! The secret is that it is super concentrated and only takes 2 tablespoons of the mix per load. The worst part of making this detergent is believing that 2 tablespoons is enough for 1 whole load…but it is! 🙂
I wish I could tell you who I got this recipe from but the truth is that I’ve tweaked it so much that I wouldn’t know who to give credit to. This is super easy to make and can save you hundreds of dollars a year! YES…I said HUNDREDS!
This is the recipe that works for me and my family. I bought all my supplies at Wal-mart:
Cast of characters: Oxi Clean – $7, Zote bar soap – $ 0.97, Fels-Naptha bar soap – $0.97, Super Washing Soda – $3.24, Borax – $3, Baking Soda – $2.24 and a container to store your soap in – $5. Optional: Downy Unstopables -$6.
1. You want to begin by grating 1/2 of the Fels-Naptha bar with the smallest sized grater you have.
Side Note: Fels-Naptha: The soap comes packaged in paper similar to bar body soap and is most often found in the laundry section of a supermarket or grocery store. It is intended for the pre-treatment of stains by rubbing the dampened product on a soiled area prior to laundering. The manufacturer claims it to be most effective in removing chocolate, baby formula, perspiration, and make-up. The brown soap is particularly effective in removing the sap of poison ivy, where it has touched the skin but not yet inflamed the area.
2. Do the same to 1/2 of the Zote bar. When you are done grating both bars put both into a food processor and process for about a minute. The idea is to get the soap as powdery as possible. I do this just because if you leave it in ramen noodle form (lol…that’s a joke) it tends to separate from the rest of the mixture easily. So if you have a food processor…put it to use! If you don’t…it’s ok! 🙂
Side note: Zote: It’s gentle on delicates and baby clothes, gets out tough stains and brightens whites. But that’s just the beginning. Zote may be the world’s most versatile household soap – use it for laundry, bathing, dishes, and it even helps keep the bugs away!
3. Put your powder concoction aside and pull out the Borax, baking soda, washing soda and Oxi Clean. You are going to pour two heaping cups of Borax and washing soda into your storage container. Then pour the entire tub of Oxi Clean and the entire box of baking soda into the container.
Side Note: Why Baking Soda? – It is less alkaline than soap and much less alkaline than other cleaning products such as chlorine bleach. This makes it excellent for use as a cleaning product, as the skin can stand prolonged contact with that.
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4. Next you will add the Zote and Fels-Naptha mixture to the storage container.
5. This next part is optional. I am a freak about my clothes smelling really good so I add a bottle of Downy Unstopables to my mix. I’ve tried using other “crystals” but I have found that a little bit of Downy Unstopables goes a long way. You don’t have to add anything. The zote and Fels already help the detergent smell fresh…but if you want too…go ahead! 🙂
6. This is what your mixture will look like. The next step is to shake it like a salt shaker….but MAKE SURE THE LID IS SECURE. Don’t get too crazy. Lol.
and voila! This is what your finished detergent will look like. You will have to shake it between every couple of uses. It only take two tablespoons per load to get your clothes clean and smelling good! Like I said from the beginning…that is the hardest part…believing that your clothes is actually going to get clean with such a small amount of detergent. Have faith…it does get clean! 🙂
After you are done making your detergent you can put the rest of the soap bars in a plastic baggie and store them for the next batch!
This batch cost me $23.42 to make….with supplies left over. If I have done my math right…which it’s possible that I didn’t…that’s about $0.11 per load! (I hate math as much as I hate laundry!)
I hope this helps your family cut back on spending money on water based detergents and I hope you love it as much as I do! Oh…and before I forget! The way I tested this detergent was by washing my stinky kitchen rag (after a good day of cleaning and degreasing) with a load of towels. I used the 2 tablespoons and when the load was done I was proud to say that my kitchen rag was clean as a whistle! Try it!
Have a great week lovelies and be blessed! – Moni ❤