Well, I finally got bored enough to try out something I've seen on Pinterest time and time again: making my own laundry soap.
Ingredients:
-1 bar of Fels-Naptha laundry bar soap (you can use Zote too)
- Borax
- Washing soda (not baking soda)
That's freakin' it! You can add essential oils if you like, but I didn't bother.
Instructions:
- use cheese grater or food processor to shred soap
- add to about 7-8 cups of water
- add soap flakes and water together in pot on stove, simmer until dissolved
- remove from heat and add 1 cup of washing soda, and 1 cup of Borax
- stir until dissolved (make sure you do this well)
- add to your 5 gallon bucket, and fill the rest with WARM water
*cold water will make it seize up a little bit and result in chunky detergent. still useable, but chunky.
- Mix it well
- Let it sit overnight, it will turn to jello. Use an immersion blender (they're like $12 on amazon) and blend til a liquid consistency.
- fill whatever containers you'd like to store it in - I had saved up old laundry containers to put it in.
You'll notice that if you haven't used it in a few days it may separate a little bit, just give the container a shake and it will mix back together.
This laundry soap will always have a snot-like consistency, but it works wonders and smells wonderful.
Use a 1/4 cup for HE washers, a little more for non-HE.
Here's the math:
9.17$ spent on supplies at Fred Meyer (Kroger)
(Baking soda weights about 7.5 oz per cup, I'm guessing the Borax and washing soda were about the same)
Borax = 76oz/7.5= 10.14 uses
$4.36/10.14= $0.43/use
Washing soda= 55oz/7.5= 7.33 uses
$3.49/7.33= $0.48/use
Fels-Naptha= 1 bar per use
$1.33
0.43+ 0.48+ 1.33 = $2.24
I made filled 5 Arm & Hammer laundry jugs (385 oz total). I normally spent $6 each or $30 for 5). Holy crap! 2.24/30 = 7.5% of what I normally spend. :)
Pics below.
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