Laundry Detergent

Here's the run down.

76 oz Borax $3.97
55 oz Washing Soda $2.98
Fels Naptha bar $0.97

1 batch of powder laundry detergent:
1 C Borax ($.42)
1 C Soda ($.44)
1 bar soap grated ($.97)

I tend to cut my hands up a lot, so this is as small as I felt comfortable grating my soap.  I thought I would use it for stain removal so it wouldn't be wasted.

My husband didn't think I should leave it out of the detergent.  Fortunately, he knows how to use a knife.  Actually, I think he saw it as a challenge.

Then I mixed it well. Hmm, sorry about the messy table.  I usually hide our piles on the bed when we have company.  I'm sure you don't have clutter on yours.

Total cost $1.83 for approximately 48 Tablespoon loads.  Even if I call it 36 loads figuring in for settling it's still around 5 cents a load.  In my quick look on soap.com and amazon.com I found Purex liquid detergent for $6.25/32 loads ($.20/load) and a 35 lbs bucket of powder detergent for around 10 cents a load, and you had to spend close to $100 to get that good of a deal!

I used it today.  I forgot to get a load out of the washer before it got stinky...usually pretty hard to get that smell out, but I couldn't smell the sour laundry after running it again with the homemade detergent and my picky husband commented on how good the laundry room smelled after rewashing and drying the load...we were more than satisfied!  If you decide to make your own laundry detergent, tell me how it works for you.

Saving Money in the Laundry Room

My husband's friend makes his own laundry detergent.  And we were thinking we would try it to save some money...but it has to be boiled and that just hasn't sounded very appealing (and I haven't needed any more until now), but I found this recipe for powder laundry detergent.  Looks pretty easy, and it's basicly the same stuff that is in our friend's liquid detergent minus the boiling water!  So while I'm out of town this week, I'll be off to the store.  I'll let you know how it all turns out.