So after doing some research into making my own cleaners for
our home, I decided DIY laundry detergent would be one of the most
cost-effective ways to do so. Using the following recipe, it is said to cost
less than ONE cent per load! With four kids ages 1 to 8 years old (and now full
time child care operating out of our home), laundry can be a killer. We were
buying an average of 2 “family size” liquid laundry detergent containers, 1-2
softeners, and 1-2 boxes of dryer sheets every month. With the prices as they are
right now, the laundry detergent alone was costing us about $30 per month.
Because this laundry soap requires less soap than traditional store-bought soap
to effectively clean your clothing, it costs even less comparatively. This
recipe costs our family only $4.45 per month. Less than $5 per month for
laundry detergent!!!!! How is that for thrifty! Now will you be willing to
spend about 15 minutes of your time preparing this super clean-smelling
detergent to clean your clothes with? I know I am willing to give up that
little bit of my time for that little bit of my money.
-
Some kind of bucket to mix all your ingredients in. I used a 3 gallon bucket.
- A large boiling pot.
- 1/3 bar of Pink (or original) Zote Laundry Soap (you can also use Fels Naptha, Octagon, or Ivory--amounts may vary) – 2 pk for $6.78.
- 1/2 cup Borax Laundry Booster – 76 oz box for $10.70.
- 1/2 cup Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda – 55 oz box for $9.19.
Step 1: Cut your bar of Zote Soap into
thirds and finely grate one third of it. Save the other two thirds because next
time you make a batch of laundry soap it will feel like you are doing it for
FREE!
Here is a close-up of the shredded curls of Pink Zote
soap. They are super soft and addicting to play with. You have been warned. :)
Here is the 1/2 cup of each powdered
ingredients.
Here is
where the pictures (with the exception of the final) stop because I was being
assisted by my 8-year-old, who I was not going to allow to take pictures with
the Galaxy SIII, holding it over the pot of boiling soap... Sorry, use your
imagination. :)
Step 2: Put your grated soap in a pot
with 6 cups of water and heat on low until the soap melts. Don't let the soap
boil. Once all the soap is completely melted add the washing soda and the borax
and stir until it is dissolved. Continue stirring until the mixture thickens
(almost as thick as honey) Remove from heat.
Step 3: Pour 4 cups of hot tap water
into your bucket. Add the soap mixture and stir it up. At this point you could
add a few drops of essential oil like lavender or tea tree oil if you wanted
your soap to have a fragrance. Add nothing and your clothes will simply
smell clean. I personally really like the smell of the pink Zote,
so I didn’t add a thing.
Step 4: Now add about 12-14 cups of hot
tap water to the bucket. The original recipe calls for “one gallon plus 6 cups”
but when I did that it came out way too runny. Give it another few minutes of
stirring and then let it sit overnight.
Step 5: In the morning your soap might look
runny, or like gel, or separated with big clumps of slime on top and water on
the bottom. This is all normal depending on the weather, the type of soap you
used, etc. At this point you can be done and simply keep your laundry soap in
the bucket and just scoop out 1/2 cup per load (like me). Or you can give it
another good stir and funnel it into your old, well-rinsed laundry soap
container (like I intended to do and still kind of do). Or you can spend the
money you saved on the first batch and buy a cute container and cup to store it
in. You will need a wide-mouthed funnel of some sort to do this and probably a
helper.
Here is mine, still in the bucket, two weeks later.
