Frugal Living – Jill-Made Washing Powder

I made my own laundry detergent this past week.  Here are the ingredients I used:

• I box (3.7 lbs) Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda – NOT baking soda
• 1 box (4 lbs) borax
• 4 boxes (1 lb each) baking soda (I couldn’t find the large boxes in my area)
• 3 bars Fels Naptha laundry soap, grated

I grated the Fels Naptha by hand with a cheese grater.  Never again.  We put a lot of our 110V countertop appliances in storage when we moved to England and a food processor just isn’t something I’ve run across at a good price or missed having.  I may have to scour the thrift stores for one, though.  The Fels Naptha is soft and easy to grate, but still.  That’s a lot of grating.  It took about 45 minutes to chop/grate 3 bars by hand. 

 

I used a large utility bucket to mix and I just dumped everything in and stirred.  I used a pasta scooper with “teeth”. You have to use some elbow grease to get to the bottom of the bucket and get everything mixed up well.  Be warned, it is dusty, so make sure you’re in an open area or someplace you can just wipe clean.  I did mine in the kitchen and mopped afterwards.  I’ve heard the borax is a good floor cleaner… 

The recipe I used also called for an “optional” addition of some Oxy Clean crystals.  I did not use that this time.  I may add that in to my next batch for something more heavy duty.  The original recipe recommended we use 1 tablespoon per load.  This didn’t seem like enough to me, so I used two tablespoons for a large-sized load.  It smells REALLY good.  I use Gain I used to use Gain and one of the reasons I did use that is because I liked the way it smelled so much.  This actually smells better than Gain.  My whites seem to really brighten up using this.  While the detergent smells good in the container, it doesn’t really leave a scent on the clean clothes.  But they are getting clean. 

 

There are variations and you can use these ingredients to make a liquid, but so far, I am happy with the powder and it seems to be less labor intensive.  If you look on Youtube or Pintrest, you will find a lot of different recipes…some posted by some really funny ladies that are filmed talking (and talking and talking) about their adventures in laundry. 

So why do this?  Isn’t it easier just to buy laundry detergent at the store?  Technically, yes, but making my own was pretty easy, too.  Gauging the cost of the ingredients against the money it costs to buy regular laundry detergent at the store, I am saving about 75 percent by making my own…maybe more.  I am not that much of a geek and I didn’t break it down to cost per load.  I guesstimate that we spend about $125 per year on laundry detergent.  I am guesstimating that we’d spend about $24 per year to make our own powder, although that really is my own WAG.    

Everyone has to wash their clothes…at least everyone should!  About an hour’s worth of effort saves me $100.  Factoring in my time and the cost savings…yeah, it’s worth it to me.