A few months ago I started seeing DIY laundry detergents on Pinterest and I thought people were crazy for making their own! That’s like extreme homemaking, right?! Well, guess what? I looked into a bit and I’ve become one of those crazy people! And maybe I’ll convince you to become one too.
I made the switch from using Tide to Homemade for 1 major reason: COST.
But, we’ll get to that in a moment. First off, let me show you how easy it is to make! If it weren’t so simple, I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t do it. But since it is, why not? It’s as simple as 3 ingredients and 3 steps.
You can find all of these items on the laundry soap isle at Walmart.
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| Grate the soap. |
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| Blend all ingredients together. |
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| Ready to use! |
If you will be using a blender, you may consider doing a cup at a time so as not to overwork your machine. Or you could just blend the soap, by itself, into finer pieces and mix the other ingredients in with a spoon. Do whatever ya feel is best!
And if that’s not enough to make you want to run to the store right now for Borax and Super Washing Soda, take a look at the savings you will be making. Here’s the breakdown according to my figuration.
Per Load
$0.06 (homemade) vs. $0.17 (Tide)
Per Box – 120 Loads
$7.20 (homemade) vs. $20.40 (Tide)
I think I used to buy a box of detergent about every 2 months. By making it myself, I will save nearly $80.00 this year!! And I can’t really tell a difference in my clothes. They come out just as fresh with homemade detergent as they did with Tide. To me, it’s worth it. A penny saved is a penny earned!
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I love your blog and use your tips regularly. :)
I recently learned that Baking Soda can be used for soothing jalapeno burning. I talk about it in my blog I just started.
http://myextraordinaryadventureoftaste.blogspot.com/2012/02/tip-jalapeno-burning-i-have-solution.html
What a great tip! I will definitely have to try this. I am always looking for ways to save money.
I have my own post coming about this soon! I definitely love the homemade soap!
Hey, if your interested I could give you some of my cleaning supplies recipes you could try. I have been making my own for 4 years now. Most of the ingredients you use you can buy in bulk and also you use these ingredients for baking as well. Love your Blog!
WOW!!! What a saving!!!
Please share this at my party.. PLEASE :)
http://thediydreamer.blogspot.com/2012/02/from-dream-to-reality-linky-party-4.html
I make my own detergent too only I make liquid. It’s definitely something I will always do to save us money!
can you use the soap in HE washers?
I make laundry soap almost identical. The only difference is I also use the cheap brand of OxyClean as I have young children that get super messy! Oh and you can use it in HE washers!
Great! I’ve been looking into making my own detergent, too. I was wondering if I could use any bar soap or do you recommend only using FelsNaptha soap? I live overseas and don’t know if I can find that…Thank you!
Sorry it took me so long to respond, Rachel. As I’ve read online you could try the following soaps: Ivory, Sunlight, Kirk’s Hardwater Castile, and Zote – but avoid using heavily perfumed soaps. Also, the Fels Naptha is available on Amazon, but costs more than it would at say Walmart. Hope you can find something that will work!
I have used this recipe before but I do the liquid version. Does anyone else find that it doesnt quite get all the smell out of your laundry? My husband is in the military and his pt clothes are completely soaked with sweat when he gets home. When I wash them with the homemade laundry soap they never smell freshly cleaned when they come out of the dryer.
You could try adding a few drops of essential oil, if you can find a fragrance you like. I haven’t gone homemade on fabric softener yet, so I still use Downy and that makes my clothes smell really good. I also use dryer sheets which help. One more thing, I’ve added Oxi-Clean to my recipe (I need to do an update post), you might try that too. Hope you can find something that works for you!
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