DIY: Homemade Laundry Detergent

I've been trying to get back into using some money saving ideas around our home. 

After working full time for 5 years with benefits, I certainly saw a drop when we had kids & I decided to be a stay at home mom-only working part time. I am blessed to have a job that allows me to work from home...but lets face it...I only put in a few hrs a week & needed to find ways to spend less for more! 

I haven't done much at all yet...but have made some choices for our family that have really helped us save. For instance...

I knew that the #1 thing I was going to try & provide was breast milk for my kids...granted that everything went well. My mom didn't have much luck BF & I know several people that didn't produce enough & had to supplement. I'm glad formula is out there because I've even had to use it on occasion...but I also feel blessed that BF worked for me because that is a huge area where we were able to save in that stage of having kids. 

 I also tried cloth diapering when Greyson was 2 months old & haven't stopped. I do use disposables a lot because I only cloth diaper when we are at home or somewhere that I will be able to do laundry (like visiting my parents or on vacation in a home that has a washer) but even cutting the diaper buying in half has been great & there are a bunch of other benefits that come with cloth diapering especially since I am able to use the same CD on my second child!

 I tried my hand at home made baby food, but that didn't really last long since Greyson only ate baby food for 4 weeks before he was on table food. I will see how it goes the second time around!

I should probably do more things to save like using coupons etc. so I recently got this cool app on my phone that has specials for the week & if you buy those you get cash back at the end. That's what I'm talking about! All you have to do is take a picture of your receipt & check mark the things on it you got then money is added to your acount. I am SO not good at clipping coupons or remembering to use them AT the store so being able to do it after the fact is the way to go! 

NEEDLESS to say!!! I kind of do things...half heartedly! haha I mean I have definitely saved us money in those areas for sure but I tend to do what is the easiest. Which is why when I started seeing recipes to make your own laundry detergent, I figured that would be something easy to try. I just NOW finally got around to making it!

 I have gotten a few recipes off Pinterest & one from a friend. Her's lasted about 6 months but this one I found can last around a year to 18 months! 

I basically followed this websites instructions

http://www.howdoesshe.com/cheaper-and-better-diy-laundry-detergent/

so feel free to check out her website for cute extras!

First, you'll need these items!

1 (4 lb 12 oz) Box of Borax- Found in the detergent aisle

1 (3 lb 7 oz) Box of Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda- Found in the detergent aisle

1 (3 lb) Container of OxyClean- Found in the detergent aisle. (This is optional but I highly recommend adding it)

2 (14.1 oz) Bars of Zote Soap- Found in the detergent aisle (we chose to do pink for the scent but the white would be just fine. You can also use Fels Naptha)

1 (4 lb) Box of Arm & Hammer Baking Soda- Found in the detergent or cooking aisle (You could also get two 2 lb boxes if you can't find the large one)

1-2 (55 oz) Bottle of Purex Crystals Fabric Softener- or use 3-4 bottles of Scentsy Washer Whiffs.Scentsy washer whiffs are my top choice, (they smell out-of-this-world amazing – my favorite isQuiver), but when in a hurry, I opt for the Purex, (which can be found in the detergent aisle).

Those are the website instructions...here's what I did.

I bought the only zote soap I saw so I'll have to get another block next time I'm at the store. I also only got ONE small bottle of purex crystals. I didn't like the scent of the ones the website showed...of course! So when I found a scent I liked better...they only had the SMALL bottles & I think they used 2 large ones! My reasoning in this was the fact that it says fabric softener & I don't usually use softener in my towels etc. so I wanted the nice smell but not a bunch to make much of a difference in the softener part. I usually use Downy Unstoppables because they specifically say it is not a fabric softener so that could be an alternative choice as well! You just might have to buy a BUNCH of those for this amount & those things can get expensive. As far as the optional Oxy Clean...I had about 1/4 of a container left so I definitely used it but if you get a whole container it'll obviously make more detergent.  

SO those are just a few things you'll need to make sure you get in the right amounts if you want to try this out.

I did try the microwave method...I do NOT recommend! You would think it would be super easy & less time consuming. Wrong! Cut it into chunks like so & maybe pop it in the microwave for like 30 seconds just to soften it a bit, but then I would definitely recommend grating it or putting it in a food processor.

The microwave method heats the soap & it expands...a lot! Once it's dry, you just crumble it up & it turns into pink, crumbly soap. Sounded easy...the ONE minute it required ended up taking like 15 to get the whole bar expanded & dry. Otherwise, you have sticky messy soapy pieces left underneath the puffiness. I just pulled the expanded pieces off & kept microwaving till I got it all. Once I started crumbling it, I could tell it wasn't going to be as fine as I wanted...SO I ended up putting it all in the food processor anyway!

Finally looking right! After that, it was EASY peasy!! I even had Greyson help me! =) 

I bought a very large jar at Walmart to store it in. The website mentioned scooping the detergent into the cool purex bottles for storage because the lid acts as a measuring cup with etched in lines, but you'll definitely need a bucket or something else to keep the rest of it in because it made a LOT!

I just started layering each ingredient & Greyson stirred it with a plastic spoon!

He had a lot of fun mixing it up!

By the time we finished, most of my jar was full. You can see just how big it is with Greyson sitting next to it! Had I put ALL the ingredients in it, I'm sure it would have been closer to the top. I will probably add more Oxy clean & the other bar of pink soap eventually.

He was pretty fascinated with it...when I took his picture he even told the soap to "say cheese!"

I am using the purex container lid as my measuring scoop. The neat thing about this is that you only need 1-2 tablespoons of detergent PER load!! One for regular loads & 2 for extra dirty or bulkier loads. That is where the cost effectiveness comes in. You don't use much & it still gets your laundry clean & smelling good! I used 2 T on a large load of towels & gotta say...I'm pretty happy with it. 

It works in HE washers (which is what I have) & only costs approximately $28 based on doing about 6 loads of laundry a week...that makes it last up to a YEAR! If you end up doing 4 loads a week it could even last to 18 months & you might have spent $28-$30 tops!

I definitely wanted something that was easy, lasted a long time & cheap! My main concern & the first thing most people think about is the smell. At least that's the first concern my husband had! The pink Zote soap has a good smell, oxy clean has a good smell & of course any scent beads you put in will have a good smell. The nice thing about that is you can choose your own scent! The rest of the ingredients didn't really have a smell so it all works together. I've heard that using felsnaptha soap instead of the zote soap smells more like tide but I guess anyone could experiment with the scents & find what works for you!

Now I know there are a hundred other DIY house hold items I could make to save money...I am slowly but surely adding different things to the list. This is just a simple one that took me about 30 minutes to make (because of all the microwaving) but would actually only take a few minutes if you process the soap first then add everything together! I'm already impressed with it...now instead of buying laundry soap I'll have more money to actually makeover my laundry room! Oh wait...I'm supposed to save money right?? =)