Laundering For Less

I'm not crazy . . . just frugal and willing to try things that save us money and help me to stay within our grocery budget (or even come close). I'm also always happy to produce less waste, reuse things, and take care of God's creation. And, you know me and my love for days bygone. So, my most recent adventure in good steward/ earth mama/frontier woman homemaking includes making my own laundry soap, stain treatment, and cleaning supplies. Naturally this involved (to my delight) lots of research and over thinking. But, like cloth diapers . . . this was something Jonathan happily supported, literally only took me about 20 minutes one recent afternoon (to make 5 gallons of laundry soap concentrate, stain treatment, and several cleaning agents), and can be done with items most people already have in their pantry and a few cheap extras.

I first learned about making your own laundry soap from watching an episode of 17 Kids and Counting, a show on The Learning Channel about a large Christian family (The Duggars). One of the reasons I occasionally tune into this television program is for the very purpose of picking up organizational tips and learning some thrifty practices; so, I was very excited when I caught the episode where there family showed how they make their own laundry soap. I immediately began further inquiry into the practice via the internet . . . Oh Google how helpful you are!!!. There are a lot of blogging mommies, savvy consumers, green gurus, and even one chemistry professor out there making their own household cleaners and laundry soap from the very ingredients our Great Grandmas and Great Great Grandmas used.

So here is the basic list of inexpensive multipurpose and easy to find ingredients (keep in mind, you only use a small portion of these things to make large batches-- so you will have the ingredients for future batches, thus saving money):

• Baking Soda

• Washing Soda

• Distilled White Vinegar

• Zote (or Fels Naptha or Ivory) soap Ammonia Borax

• Occasionally Rubbing alcohol and peroxide

Even if you don't drink the Kool-Aid, these items are great to have on hand for tough stains. I have been very pleased with all of my concoctions and have even found them to work more efficiently as surfaces and laundry look cleaner. After researching various recipes for laundry soap, I decided to go with the 5 gallons worth of concentrate (you add water when you put your concentrate into an old detergent bottle-- hello, this means I will have laundry detergent for months . . . all for about $2.00!!!!) For this particular recipe, you will need:

4 Cups hot tap water
1 Fels-Naptha soap bar (I used Zote)
1 Cup Washing Soda
½ Cup Borax
Additional tap water

First you grate (or use a food processor) to shred the entire bar of soap.






Then, you add the soap to a saucepan of water and stir continually over med-low heat until the soap is melted. Next, fill a 5 gallon bucket (make sure you purchase one with a lid) half full with hot tap water.




Add melted soap, washing soda, and borax. Stir the mixture well--until all of the powder is dissolved.





Then add more hot tap water to fill the bucket. Lastly stir and cover. Let it sit overnight to thicken. Once the soap has cooled, you can add 10-15 drops of your favorite essential oil, but I preferred to just go with the fresh clean/soap smell. This will yield 5 gallons of concentrate, which equals 10 gallons of liquid soap. You use 1/2 C in a top load machine and 1/4 C in front load machines. Once your laundry soap has thickened it will be like a gel (almost like Jell-o). Scoop some out, stir it up, fill an old empty laundry detergent container half full of concentrate. Fill the rest of the way with water. Shake before use (it will gel when it sits).

Side note, I have also forgone using dryer sheets, which contain nasty chemicals, can be a fire hazard (in regards to the build up on your lent trap) and are costly. I purchased some generic dryer balls, which I had first learned about in a green magazine given to Jonathan by a professor at the local community college, but just today I have come to find out that "real" green people are not to keen on the dryer balls which are supposedly made from PVC. I will have to do more research on this, but they did cut the drying time and fluff up the clothes. As far as static goes-- this is usually caused by over drying, or synthetic clothing.

There are many recipes out there to choose from, and you can even whip up a batch of dry/granular laundry detergent if you prefer. Some of the other homemade cleaners I have made include stain treatment (for clothing), window cleaner, multi-purpose cleaner, and floor cleaner. I have reused spray bottles and store the leftovers in everything from gallon milk jugs to Sunny D jugs. I used a Sharpie to label everything (including ingredients for safety purposes), and I have all the ingredients in stock for when my cleaners run out. I have to say, it was so much fun to skip the cleaning aisle all together at the grocery store the other day!

Happy Homemaking!