Has it seriously been a week since I last posted? My word, this week flew by! My sister (Heidi) is getting married TOMORROW, and my mom was in a bad car accident earlier this week. Between the two, it's been a busy week! I've been wanting to post this for several days now.
My sister Carrie mentioned the idea of home made detergent to me a couple years ago. To be honest, at the time it seemed too time consuming. I was working, away from the house a lot, and we didn't do much laundry.  In short, it just didn't seem worth the trouble. But ohhh how things have changed! I have exchanged one resource (money) for another (time), and suddenly it seems like a really good idea! This detergent can be used for clothes and for cloth diapers. My friend Sandi, my sister Carrie, and my Aunt Karen made some the other day.  Recipe for laundry detergent: Mix 2 cups Borax with 2 cups washing soda and 1 grated bar of soap.
 You can use a hand grater to grate the soap but we used a food processor with a grater attachment. We were able to grate 6 bars in less than five minutes. Some people have mentioned using a shredder attachment for their KitchenAid.  We did the grating outside as it tends to release a certain amount of soap dust. And you should NOT leave food out if you do this in the kitchen.
To figure out for ourselves if homemade laundry detergent is really a better deal than store bought, Carrie and I did some calculations. I could explain all the steps of these calculations, but that would be so boring. We are both college educated and then some, so just take my word for it. Bottom line: Homemade detergent: $0.04-0.08/load Store brand detergent: expensive! Depends on where you buy, and which brand.
Okay, if you really want the calculations, here they are. Borax - $3.79 for a box, containing 11 and 1/2 cups (by volume), means $0.33/cup Washing soda - $2.99 for a box, containing 6 and 1/2 cups (by volume), means $0.46/cup Bar of Fels Naptha (or may use Ivory) soap - $1.19 per bar (All ingredients found at Kroger)
After measuring by volume, we determined that there were 72 Tbs per batch. Given that one load can be done with 1 to 2 Tbs, the calculations go (2 x 0.33 + 2 x 0.46 + 1.19)/72 which works out to be about $0.038/Tbs.  Obviously price varies based on the amount in each box and the price you pay. Just looking at Amazon, the prices if ordered over the internet are much higher. Questions? Leave a comment. Otherwise, enjoy!! |
I just really appreciate you NOT putting my messy hair and face in the pictures! Thanks :) And thanks for a fun day!
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