As you may have noticed, I’m always looking to save money. Although I want a clean home and clean laundry, I don’t want to have to pay a fortune for the products to get it that way.
I’ve tried just about everything, and now I’m trying the rest of the things. Laundry products are a big issue for me. First of all they come in huge plastic jugs. Yes, the plastic is recyclable but it’s even better to not bring it home.
Then once you open that huge jug you are basically washing your clothes in a mix of chemicals. All the pretty colors and the wonderful scents just add to the chemical mix. Then there is the cost, I cringe every time I pick up a jug of that stuff and put it in my cart.
Time to try something new! I tried making homemade powdered laundry detergent before and wasn’t happy with the result. Since I wash all my clothes in cold water the homemade powdered stuff never seems to dissolve completely.
I put off trying the homemade liquid because it seemed like too much work. I finally bit the bullet and did it. It took about twenty minutes, grating the soap was the most time consuming part but even that didn’t take long. I used the recipe from the Duggar family website. This is low sudsing so it can be used in high efficiency machines as well.
Grate one bar of Fels Naptha soap into a saucepan with four cups of hot water. Stir over medium heat until soap is dissolved.
Fill a five gallon bucket half full of hot water, add the melted soap, 1 cup of Arm & Hammer washing soda (not baking soda), and ½ cup of Borax. Stir until dissolved and fill the bucket the rest of the way with hot tap water. Let sit overnight.
In the morning it will have jelled and be kind of clumpy, this is the way its supposed to be. Fill a jug half way with the soap and fill the rest of the way with water.
Shake before using and use about 5/8’s of a cup per load. This recipe makes ten gallons of laundry detergent for less than $3.
The best part, it works! I had Ivy for the weekend and she wet the bed, I washed the sheets and her pajamas, they came out clean and fresh smelling. I washed a white sweater that I had gotten makeup on and it came out.
I’m a believer. I’m glad I finally tried this!