I am not sure why I have been waiting so long to try it! Marcie has been making laundry soap for quite a while and singing its praises. I know Brooke makes it too, and teaches others! (gotta love facebook)
So last week I finally purchased all the ingredients for the soap, and today I picked up my 5 gallon pail from Lowe's.
Here is the investment I had to make in this venture:
5 gallon pail and lid $6 (lowe's)
1 bar of Fels-Naptha Soap $1.29 (dillon's)
1 box of Arm and Hammer Washing Soda $3 (dillon's)
1 box of Borax $5 (dillon's)
When my girls got wind of the project they quickly consulted their Duggar Bible and we used their recipe.
The way I figure it, I just made 5 gallons of laundry soap for $1.99. Or 30 loads worth (bottle size) for .38!
Here is how I came up with that amount:
1 bar of Fels-Naptha $1.29
10oz of washing soda .54
2.5 oz of borax .16
For a standard washing machine you use 1/2c, and a front loader 1/4c. One hundred and sixty loads or three hundred two loads for each 5 gallon pail.
Frugal disclaimer: I am all for evaluating whether you have the time or money for something, because some times with frugality, you have to figure out which one you have the most of at any given time before you take something new on, but honestly it took 10 minutes to mix up! My first batch is currently "gelling" overnight on the counter.
I will let you know my washing results, but I don't have many doubts - after all it works for Brooke, Marcie, and the Duggar's.
:)
I have a feeling now all I will want to do is kick myself for not jumping on the bandwagon sooner!
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13 comments:
one thing at a time for me... i just started clipping coupons again! i will see how yours turns out!
Hope and I are talking about trying it! :)
Wendy suggested leaving it in powder form for the sake of convenience and also space. I tried it and love it even more!
You use the same ingredients (just grate your soap really fine) and mix all in a container of some sort. You then use 2 tbsp each load. I just put the soap in before the cloths and let it dissolve a bit.
They also suggested adding 1/4 oxyclean (or a generic version). I like that idea, although it would make the cost go up a bit...
Brooke -
I tried making the powder 5 or so years ago (when I was pregnant with cam) and I couldn't get the fels-naptha grated finely enough to dissolve in my washer? I ran it through my cuisinart back, but there would still be tiny yellow flakes on my clothes. I am not sure if it is my washing machine? (although at that time it was brand new?) Or if it really needs to be more powdering than I was getting it? I also do nearly everything in cold.
I can totally see how nice it would be though, to not have a 5 gallon pail on my dryer!
How do you grate yours? On a micro plane?
When Marcie posted about it, I thought of trying it then too...Sounds like a really great thing.
Good for you! I had no idea people actually did this - of course it makes sense. I hate always having to pick up laundry soap - bulk like that sounds great! Are you going to add a scent to it?
I didn't even know there was a bandwagon;) I have yet to try my first batch and am currently looking for fels naptha around here. Waiting to here how it turns out!
I grated it on a box grater, but used the really fine side. Then, I crumbled it the rest of the way with my fingers. I just used a bar of soap I had on hand (Ivory, I think) and so it crumbled to almost as fine as the washing soda.
I do almost everything in cold too... Maybe it's the difference in the kind of soap we're using.
I have to say I am very intrigured. We watch the duggars and saw they make theirs and yes we are going to be trying it.
We will all have to let each other know little things we find out to make things easier.....
Brooke-
I bet that is the difference. Have you been happy with your results using ivory? When I melted the FN in the water to make mine it took several minutes of vigorous whisking to get it to dissolve. And even with that - I can still see some yellow pieces. I think today I will run out of All, and then I get to try it out for myself!
Anne -
It is interesting isn't it? Gotta love the duggars, setting such a good example for all! :) I am really excited about it, because laundry soap is up there with the things that I don't like to buy - but seems like it is always on the list. :)
I have been doing this for about 6 months now & I love it! I keep a bottle of tide around for my sheets because I love the way they smell but other than that I use it on everything! One thing that I do that helped me make the switch was I bought the simple pleasures laundry sheets and it makes the clothes still smell very good! Good Luck!
Abbey-
Are you making the dry or gel kind? What kind of bar soap are you using? I love hearing all these glowing reports! :)
Good tip on the fabric sheets - I think I will try that! I am so addicted to the smell!
Abbey-I'm with you one the tide thing. I had 2 free travel size things of tide that I used the other day and all day I kept sniffing my clothes and sighing. It just smelled so good. Almost worth the money... almost. :o)
Shawna-I didn't like the Ivory much with the liquid just because it was so slimy and settled on the top. Keeping it in powder form I like it much better. It doesn't really give your clothes a smell at all, so I do still use yummy smelling fabric softner (generic unless I find the name brand on the cheap).
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