$25 for 9 Months of Laundry Detergent!!

DIY Laundry Soap

So who out there HATES paying an arm and a leg for laundry detergent? With 2 dogs and hubby that does farm work on the norm, I can get upwards of 5 or 6 loads per week! During these weeks when there seems to be a never-ending pile of laundry, it feels like you are dumping liquid gold into the washer. Ugh…the worst. I had heard about DIY laundry detergent before (I mean our grandmothers did laundry before the invention of Tide right?) but I had all these preconceived notions and concerns in my mind about making my own detergent. For example:

Would it smell weird?

Would it do weird things to my clothes?

Does this make me a hippie?

Exactly how complex will it be to make it?

Would it actually save me money?

But I figured…what do I have to lose? And so…the adventure began (you’ll notice most of my stories begin with this statement). A lot of the recipes I found were for liquid form and were supposed to be diluted. I steered away from those because A) who has room for a large bucket of liquid to set in the middle of their laundry room? B) messy C) why make more work for myself with the diluting process…the reason I bought detergent from the store was for convenience. I also have a HE washer, which from what I’ve read can be tricky when it comes to sudsy detergent…nobody wants a foam avalanche. But, after much research and a few trial and error rounds I got my absolute favorite money saving powdered laundry detergent!

Here’s what you need:

1 bar of Fels-Naptha laundry soap, finely grated (you can use any similar products)
1 box of 20 Mule Team Borax
1 box Oxi-Clean – Versatile
1 box Arm & Hammer Super Washing soda
1 box baking soda
2 bottles scent booster – I use Purex Mountain Spring (the green kind)

Here’s what you do:

Grate the bar of Fels-Naptha
Dump everything else into a large bucket
Mix by hand, or by shaking until thoroughly mixed
Put into whatever vessel you have chosen…I divide mine into mason jars since they store nicely in my closet
Use it! I typically use 1-3 tablespoons per load depending on how dirty the load is
Grated Fels-Naptha bar

Dump everything in a bucket

Mix everything together

Finished detergent

Well I talked about some concerns that I had when I first embarked on the challenge, let me put some of these to rest for you…

Would it smell weird? No, I smell like a baby in a meadow.

Would it do weird things to my clothes? I have yet to ruin anything…well at least from the detergent.

Does this make me a hippie? Imma be honest…I don’t care.

Exactly how complex will it be to make it? It’s super easy to make…20 minutes tops

Would it actually save me money? OH YES! It doesn’t seem like much to save $20 bucks per year, but EVERY BIT HELPS when you’re trying to save up for your next trip!

I have now been using this concoction for about 2 years and I am still happy with it. It smells great, saves some cash, AND makes me feel like I’m being resourceful and wifely ;).