It All Comes Out in the Wash (Detergent Update!)

The blog post I get the most questions about in real life, hands down, is the question about my homemade laundry detergent.  Do you remember that?  Let me refresh your memory (a.k.a. click here. It'll take you to the original post).  I thought I would talk a little bit about it in case you were curious!

I made my laundry detergent back in JUNE.  I just ran out last month.  That's SIX MONTHS of not buying laundry detergent.  Absolutely reedonkulous.  It was time to make some more, so I thought I would do a little tweaking to the original recipe. 

I'll start by saying that Marty didn't love the homemade detergent.  Almost from the moment I made it, he turned his nose up.  I guess because it's not a trusted brand or well-renowned for it's cleaning ability...I don't know.  Whatever the reason, he wasn't really wanting to give the 1950s detergent a chance at all ( but that didn't stop me from using it *cheesy grin*).  I figured out later that Marty likes really fresh clothes that have a distinct "just washed" smell.  That's probably one of the few negatives about this detergent.  It doesn't have much of a smell--which doesn't bother me.  I don't have to walk around every day smelling like a fabric softener sheet, but apparently my husband does, so I wanted to fix that with this round of detergent.

Recap:  here's the "recipe" to make your own homemade laundry detergent:

1 box (76 oz) 20 Mule Team Borax

1 box (55 oz) Arm and Hammer Super Washing Soda

3 bars of soap**

**In my original round of making detergent, I used plain, ole Ivory soap.  This time, I went for the actual laundry soap...Fels Naptha (you can also pick up Zote--another laundry soap brand).  Heads up, if you go this route?  This stuff is strooooong scented.  Like make your house smell like this soap for THREE DAYS STRAIGHT strong.  

So, let's make the detergent.  Dump the Borax and Washing Soda into your chosen container.  I've been using a cute red beverage tub I found on clearance at Target.  

Then, grate all three bars of soap into the mix with a cheese grater.  Looks just like grated cheese.  A little weird.

Now, one more change from the original batch I made.  To make the detergent and the laundry smell cleaner, I added a bottle of Purex Crystals.  

I picked the Fresh Spring Waters scent, just because I didn't think the hubs would appreciate the Lavender smelling clothing.   

So far, I like this version detergent better.  It smells clean and I think the Purex Crystals add to the cleaning power.  And....hubs hasn't complained.  Score. 

Last time, I compared my savings in making my own detergent vs buying a bottle of Tide or other brand name.  Since I added the Purex Crystals and spent a little more on the Fels Naptha, I would say I spent around $13 on this batch.  Since there are more ingredients, there's more detergent to go around (175. oz worth)  Here's the math: 

Cost of detergent/amount of detergent (tbsp)=Cost per load of laundry

There are 175.5 oz in this batch.  1 oz=2 tbsp.  So, 351 tbsp. of laundry.

$13/351 tbsp= 4 cents a load

I use 2 tbsp in each load of laundry, so it costs me 8 cents a load.

Yep.  Totally still worth it. 

What kind of products do you make yourself and save money?  Share!! 

1950s housewife, here I come.

It's June 14th and I'm continuing my "Penny Pinching Summer" in my quest to save and be less stressed about every aspect of my life where money and spending are concerned.  So far, I've been doing well by saving money at the grocery through coupons and store-brand shopping.  I've been keeping more green in my wallet by passing up the clothing stores for myself and Avery and only picking up things that are needed in our wardrobes.  I eat out less and cook at home more.  I bought pretty much all of the gifts for Avery's birthday using a gift card that I got to the Disney Store. 

Now, I'm looking to save money around the house.  The obvious answer led me right to my laundry room.  I know I can't be the only one who has gawked at the price of laundry detergent lately.  It's RIDICULOUS.  I buy Tide Coldwater because, obviously, I wash everything in cold water.  I also buy Dreft because Avery had eczema pretty bad as a newborn, so I didn't want anything to irritate her already delicate skin.  At ten months old, the eczema has all but disappeared and I'm ready to stop spending so much on detergent.  At Wal-Mart, the Tide Coldwater is around $12 for 100 ounces.  The Tide website says that you can get 52 loads out of a 100 oz.  So I'll base my numbers around that estimate, although I probably get less loads out of a bottle because I'm super guilty of not measuring out my detergent.  Pour some in the cap, dump in the wash, close the lid.  Anyway, back to the detergent.  If you are a good little laundry-doer and get the 52 loads out of a container, you're spending 23 cents a load.  I hear you now, Devan it's only 23 cents.  What on earth can you buy with 23 cents??  Just wait.  If you also count the Dreft, which is about $16, at 52 loads, I'm spending 30 whopping cents a load on baby clothes.  Yeah, that's gotta stop.
Once I decided that I wanted to go all pioneer woman and make my own detergent, I started looking around on Pinterest (of course) for the perfect detergent "recipe."  I was surprised by the variety of homemade detergents.  Some people put scented oil in theirs to give their laundry a fresh, clean scent.  Others put Oxi Clean in to make sure their whites sparkled.  Still others added baking soda to give their laundry that extra "oomph."  Despite all the variations, three ingredients remained consistent in all the recipes--Borax, Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda and bar soap.  Most used a fancy type of washing soap like Fels-Naptha or Zote, but I decided that I would stick with good old, time trusted Ivory soap.  I decided to stick with the basic 3 ingredients for now and leave the recipe open to change if I decided it needed a little something more.

Count 'em...just THREE ingredients

After the ingredients were purchased, it was time to assemble.  I bought a small plastic container at Wal-Mart that I knew would fit in my laundry room and would hold a large amount of detergent if I decided to make it in bulk.  Making this detergent couldn't be easier.  Three steps.....ready?  Pour the entire boxes of Borax and Super Washing Soda into your container. 

After the two powders are poured, take a cheese grater and grate 3 bars of soap into the mix.  If you have a food processer, you can use that....I'm not fancy and had to use a basic hand grater.  The result will look like a bunch of grated Mozzarella cheese.  It's not.  Don't eat it. :)  Another plus to making this detergent?  Your arm gets a good workout while grating. 

Don't be fooled...it's soap.

Alright.  Soap is grated, powders are poured.  Now, stick your hand in and mix it all together.  This was the hardest part for me because I'm a texture freak and this was weird.  I mixed quickly and ran to the sink to wash off.  And I'm D-O-N-E, done.  

Detergent!

Now for the savings.  Prepare to be stunned.  Earlier I mentioned that I was spending 23 cents for every load of mine and Marty's clothing and 30 cents on Avery's.  On my three ingredients, I spent $7.86.  Most of the blogs I read of ladies making their own detergent call for either one or two heaping tablespoons of detergent in your washer.  Here comes a little math...stay with me....the Borax comes in a 76 oz box, the Washing Soda is 55 oz and the three bars of soap were a total of 9.5 oz=140.5 ounces of detergent.  The conversion from ounces to tablespoons is 1 oz=2 tablespoons, so I have approximately 281 tablespoons of detergent.  If I put just ONE tablespoon per load of laundry, I would be able to do 281 loads.  Ready?  $7.88/281= 3 CENTS A LOAD.  Even if I use two tablespoons per load, I'm spending about 6 cents.  Are. You. Kidding. Me??  Basically, every time I walk to my washing machine and do a load of laundry, I'm saving myself 50 cents.  On 281 loads of laundry, I'm keeping $140.50 for myself to spend on something else.  Take a moment to soak that in.  Can we say "No Brainer??" 

Of course I had to make the container pretty.  I'm a self-diagnosed over decorator.

Note:  Most articles I read mentioned that you might have some soapy build-up from this type of detergent.  It's an easy fix....dump a cup of vinegar in your washing machine and run an empty load to keep your drum clean and soap-free.  Some places also mentioned using 1/4 cup of white vinegar in the dryer as a fabric softner to remove soapy residue from clothing.  I'll be interested to see how my detergent smells and how well it cleans my clothing.  I'll keep you guys updated on that.  But for now, 20 cents of savings is worth trying my homemade detergent!  Next, I'm working on finding ways to save on fabric softner.  Stay tuned for more Penny Pinching tips around the home!

Sources:  Sugar Pie Farmhouse  Yellow Brick Home  How Does She?