I'm Making My Own Laundry Detergent

I've heard about people making their own laundry detergent for a couple of years, but I really thought that sounded like a lot of work and no thank you I'll just keep buying it. Well, lately I've gotten really into making my own stuff, like dishwasher detergent, toothpaste, cleaning products, shampoo, peanut butter, broth...okay I'll stop now, ha!

I attribute this "back to the basics" "DIY" thing that I have going on to the fact that this stuff just isn't that hard to make! Okay and Pinterest. But, really it's not that hard and then it was the challenge of what else can I make and how much money will this save us?

Back to the laundry detergent. I found a super easy recipe on one of my favorite blogs, "Keeper of the Home".

Are you ready for the detailed description of the many many products it requires to make, hold on, here goes:

1 Cup Borax

1 Cup Washing Soda

1 Bar of Fels Naptha Soap or Castille Soap (I've even heard Ivory works)

Crazy long list of ingredients, right? I think my problem when looking at this list was that I had no idea what washing soda was, I thought perhaps that's what the British call baking soda, wrong! It's actually washing soda and you find it on surprisingly the laundry detergent aisle, go figure! 

My next problem was I had no idea what Fels Naptha soap was and where to buy it. So, for my first attempt, I bought a bar of Castille soap at Trader Joe's, the cost was $3.99. I also found it at Whole Foods for the same price where they have many more options of scent. This soap worked great (I'll get to the how part in a minute) but I wasn't convinced that I was saving that much money with the cost of the bar. 

So, I decided to try Fels Naptha, this "laundry soap" was located in the laundry detergent aisle of Kroger and at $1.26 a bar it was a much better deal. It worked great as well. 

Here's what I did to make it: I used my food processor and shredded the soap. Then I poured in a cup of washing soda then a cut of Borax and ran it in the food processor for a few seconds. (If you don't have a food processor, this post shows you another way). Done. I would recommend washing the food processor right away and really well just to be on the safe side. I have been using one to two tablespoons per load.

Disclaimer: borax and washing soda look exactly alike, so if you're not paying attention, you won't be able to tell if you just put in borax or washing soda and what you should put in next. Even after five minutes of comparing, you probably still wouldn't be able to tell and you might just waste a batch. Of course, something like this would never happen to me, ha.

• I've only been using this for a little while and I'm so happy with the money-saving results, but to learn more and why each ingredient is used I strongly suggest you check out the blog post that inspired me at "Keeper of the Home". Just click here .

Thanks for stopping by, I have much more to share about my cost saving DIY projects, so come back soon!

God Bless,

Jennifer