Savvy Saturday - Suds or No Suds...

Many of my friends are starting to create their own cleaning products to get back to the more simple way of life. I too have jumped on this bandwagon of simplifying my life. One friend recently gave me a sample of her homemade laundry detergent and I love it. I love the simplicity of it... are you catching on that I am loving to see how many ways I can use the word "simple".. haha...

Anyways... Homemade laundry detergent is the way to go. Think about it, how much laundry soap do you go through a year? Are you dedicated 100% to your chosen soap? Did you know there are other options? You really should consider this:

Average Laundry Detergent Cost: $11 for 64 loads
Average Loads of Laundry done per week : 10

current math:

64 loads / $11 = .18 cents per load with Tide

10 loads per week x .18 cents = 1.80 per week

52 weeks in a year x $1.80 = $93.60 in Laundry detergent

Now how about those of us that are stay at home moms with toddlers and babies....

64 loads/ $11 = .18 cents per load with Tide

20 loads per week x .18 cents = 3.60 per week

52 weeks in a year x $3.60 = $187.20

wow! big difference! I think those of us who are stay at home moms, or even those of us who do lots of laundry should definitely try out homemade laundry soap..

Math for recipe:

Fels Naptha Bar - $1.14 (I purchase mine off of amazon.com because I couldn't find it locally)

Arm and Hammer Washing Soda - $1.82 (1 pound box)

Borax - $3.49 (76oz box)

water = free from home

5 gallon bucket with lid = free from home, or costs $5.00 at home depot

total = $6.45 or $11.45 if you buy the bucket

Recipe below:

Hot water
1/2 cup Washing Soda
1/2 cup Borax
1/3 bar Soap (grated)

• In a large pot, heat 3 pints of water. Add the grated bar soap and stir until melted. Then add the washing soda and borax. Stir until powder is dissolved, then remove from heat.
• In a 2 gallon clean pail, pour 1 quart of hot water and add the heated soap mixture. Top pail with cold water and stir well.
• Use 1/2 cup per load, stirring soap before each use (will gel).

I stir with a drill and drill bit attachment used for mixing paint, because this makes roughly five gallons... way cheaper then store bought and it truly works!

try it out!