Call me Martha: Homemade Laundry Soap!

 Most days, I feel like my life will forever be dictated by the need to do laundry.  Work clothes, sweaty exercise clothes, lounge clothes, baby clothes, play clothes, and towels seem to overcome the little hamper space we have.  (And, let's face it....plenty of floor space!)

This past weekend, I decided to try a batch of homemade laundry soap.  I cringe every time I load a jug of that into the cart - it's crazy expensive and a cost I'd really like to get rid of.  However, since it's not cool to walk around smelling like B.O., I suppose the laundry needs some sort of TLC.  So - laundry soap it is!

  I found a recipe online and modified it a bit to include OxiClean.  We need the extra stain fighting action in this household.  My lil' monkeys are every clean shirt's worst nightmare.

Here's what you need: 

1 - 4# box of borax

1 - 4# box of washing soda

1 - value size baking soda

1 - tub of OxiClean (optional)

3 - bars of Fels Naptha soap

I bought all of these ingredients at Walmart for about $21. 

 

Fels whaaaaaat?!!!

I had never heard of this soap before, but easily found it at Walmart in the laundry aisle.  It looks like a block of cheese.  Try not to eat it.

{Now, the fun part}

 I started by cutting each bar into chunks and throwing it in the food processor.  I'm lazy and really didn't want to spend time grating soap by hand.  

When you're finished, you'll have little cheese looking thingies that smell really good! 

 Next, I took a large bucket (5 gallon) and lined it with a garbage bag.  Throw all ingredients in the bag and stir it up! That's it! Preferably, do this in the stinkiest room in your house - it smells wonderful!  Now your laundry soap doubles as a room deodorizer.  Boom.

 

 This recipe makes a large batch - ABOUT 2 GALLONS!  Make sure whatever you mix it up in will be big enough.  I transferred it to a big glass cookie jar I found at Walmart and it fits perfectly.

 YOU ONLY NEED 1-2 TABLESPOONS PER LOAD!  This little silver scoop is also a Walmart find and is 2 tablespoons.  Bingo.

So - how will this save money?

My Google search tells me there are 256 tablespoons in one gallon.  I made roughly 2 gallons, so that would be 512 tablespoons worth, for $21. If each load requires just 1 tablespoon, that =  $0.04 per load, and a double load obviously 8 cents.  Without the OxiClean that would be about 2 cents per load!! The Tide I have previously been using is about $0.20 per load, and that is the cost of buying it in a huge jug at Sam's.

 

I put the homemade soap to the test by washing my raunchy workout clothes after running 3 1/2 miles yesterday morning.  I also washed our shower curtains and I am amazed how sparkly clean they look again! Worked great!  While it smells wonderful, it doesn't leave clothes highly fragrant.  You could add essential oils to change that up though.    I don't have a front loading HE washer, but from what I understand this is safe to use in those if added to the barrel vs. the dispenser.  Also, I am using this for my kids' laundry in place of Dreft - it hasn't caused any problem for their beautiful baby skin!

Happy Soaping!