Being a stay at home mom makes you find ways to cut corners and save money wherever you can. While i still haven't grasped extreme couponing (as much as I want to) I have figured out a way to save some money for our little ginger clan by making our own laundry detergent.
My son has extremely sensitive skin and laundry detergent has always been an issue for us. Even Dreft with its fresh baby scent would make his eczema break out causing hims to be itchy and miserable. And for those of you who have a 20 month old know, miserable baby's make everyone else miserable. So we found a detergent that worked, All free and clear, however I found myself doing 1-4 loads of laundry a day and would go through our bottle of All within the month if not sooner.
I had heard of how people make their own laundry soap but had no idea how to go about it until I remembered I had recently watched a show at my moms from the live well network on a gal that not only made laundry soap but dish washing detergent and house hold cleaner.
Perfect!
Copying down the recipe I was so excited to get my supplies for my home made laundry detergent, after all the total cost per load was a whopping two cents! How could I not try it out?!
Here is the recipe I use:
2 cups Borax (found in the detergent isle)
2 cups arm and hammer super washing soda (found in the detergent isle)
1 bar of Fels-naptha* (laundry soap, also found in the detergent isle)
Grate your bar of soap with a cheese grater and pour it into bowl. Proceed to measure out your borax and your washing soda and combine it into the same bowl. Mix well and put into an airtight container. (I found one at the dollar store that works perfectly)
Load your laundry like normal and put in 1 tablespoon of the mixture, it's pretty potent stuff so make sure not to overload it. If my laundry is a little extra dirty I usually put in a heaping tablespoon but that's as far as I'll go.
Not only have i noticed that my sons eczema breakouts have gone down significantly but my clothes are just as clean as when I used regular detergent. And my family saves a ton of money!
Hopefully this will help you in saving some money for you and your busy family.
Ginger out
* The original recipe stated that you can use any bar of soap. Which means you can use any type of soap you have laying around the house whether it be laundry soap or body soap. Personally I have not tried it with body soap so I cannot vouch for that route.
