Home Made Laundry Detergent!! :)

When I first set out to make homemade laundry detergent I thought it would be difficult and time consuming, however boy was I wrong! It was actually incredibly fast, easy, and inexpensive. Now, after making my first batch, I love the results.

Here is the breakdown in cost analysis:

Note: you only need to use 1 tablespoon of this homemade detergent per load, although you can use 1 – 2 tablespoons for heavily soiled loads)

• Arm & Hammer® liquid 100 ounce detergent – $6.79 – 32 loads = $0.21 per load
• Tide® with Bleach powder 267 ounce detergent – $20.32 – 95 loads = $0.21 per load
• Homemade powder 32 ounce detergent – $2.98 – 64 loads = $0.05 per load

As you can see, whether I compare against traditional store bought liquid or powder, I am saving $0.16 per load!

Homemade powder soap required only 3 simple ingredients & took around 5 minutes to create, in respect of opportunity cost I abandoned my original idea of brewing a liquid detergent and set my sights on creating the powder variety. What follows is a pictorial tutorial to making homemade powder laundry detergent.  Enjoy!
SIMPLE INGREDIENTS

1 – 55 ounce box of Arm & Hammer® Super Washing Soda = $3.99

1 – 76 ounce box of 20 Mule Team® Borax = $4.99

1 – 10 pack of 4.5 ounce bars of Ivory® Bar Soap 

A SIMPLE RECIPE

Each batch yields approximately 32 ounces (between 32-64 loads based on how many Tbsp used per load).

1 bar of shaved bar soap 

1 cup of borax

1 cup of washing soda

Thoroughly stir together for 5 minutes and enjoy the results!  That’s it folks…seems too good to be true, but it is true indeed!

THE MAKING OF A BATCH

1. Start with these ingredients & utensils:

2. Shave 1 bar of soap.  I used a simple hand grater:

3. My shaved bar looked like this:

4. Add 1 cup of borax:

5. Add 1 cup of washing soda:

6. Stir thoroughly:

7. Continue stirring thoroughly:

8. Stirring is complete when you have a powder like this:

9. 2 batches of this recipe fit perfectly into a 32 ounce yogurt container:

When you do a load use 1 tablespoon of detergent per load 

(you can also use 1 – 2 scoops for heavily soiled loads).

There you have it folks!

Simple, easy, fast, & efficient!!

What are you waiting for?  Go get the ingredients & make yours today!