Last summer I made homemade laudry soap for the first time. Based on the small initial investment, and the large quantity of soap made from a small portion of those ingredients, I knew it was really CHEAP to make this soap. I never did the math though, and when telling anyone about it, I always said it broke down to pennies per load.
Well, I just ran out of the batch made last summer and had to start another one, so I did the math. I get 10 gallons of laundry soap for $1.21! It only takes 1/4 cup per load, so 640 loads to a 10 gallon batch makes it .00189 cents per load, not even a penny!! Not even half, or quarter of a penny! If I do 5 loads a week it's still not a full penny per week.
If you need to cut costs, I highly recommend this as one way to do it. It takes 15 minutes to mix it all up and then it sits for 24 hours, so it's not even labor intensive. Here's what I did:
Grate one bar of Zote soap (some use Ivory or Fels Naptha) and dissolve in hot water. I put it in a large pot on the stove, brought the water close to a boil, then added the grated soap and turned the temp down to low. I whisked it a few times while it dissolved. While this is happening, heat 2 gallons of water and add to a 5 gallon bucket. When the Zote is dissolved, add it to the bucket with 1 cup of washing soda, and 1/2 cup of borax. Whisk it all together to mix well, then add enough hot water to fill the bucket and stir once more. Put the lid on and let it sit for 24 hours. After that, use a smaller, handy container to hold your soap-perhaps an old laundry detergent bottle. Fill it halfway with the soap, then add water to fill the bottle. This is how you end up with 10 gallons of soap from a 5 gallon bucket. Shake it well prior to each use. Most directions I've read say to use hot water to fill the bottle, probably to break up the gelled soap.
Mine didn't gel this the first time, probably because I didn't have a lid for the bucket. I still used the soap though. My clothes come out clean. I didn't dillute the first batch though, but now that I think about it, just because it didn't gel didn't mean there was less soap, so I should have. I'd still have soap if I did!
More laundry recipes and a FAQ can be found here.
Yep,I have been making this too! I love it and I like to change the scent around with some drops of essential oil because my Hubby,shh...don't tell..likes his clothes to have a nice scent!
ReplyDeletethis is a bit different from my recipe-It is so funny that I just thought about posting it, since I just ordered a new batch of soap.
ReplyDeleteMine is a powdered mix and doesn't stretch this far.
I am thinking I will try your recipe this time. Where do you buy the washing soda? I always get it on line and end up having to pay shipping, which aggravates me.
I bought the box of borax for $5 I think, and the soap bars depend-if I buy the Octagon Colgate(?) ones, they are $1 each at the Piggly Wiggly. But I do prefer the organic Dr. Bronners, and they cost me $4.99 per bar, but do have essential oils so the powder ends up smelling heavenly.
So you basically pay a buck for the soap and a quarter for the soda and borax?
p.s. I meant to say my powder detergent with the $1 soap ends up costing about a nickel per load, and with the $5 soap it is 12 cents per load.
ReplyDeletePolly-I can get washing soda here right next to the borax on the soap aisle. I've heard that some areas don't have it and shipping is more than the soda. Amazon sells some grocery items and you get free shipping if you order enough, but I don't know if they have washing soda.
ReplyDeleteAs to the costs, a 76 oz box of borax is 5.49 and the 55 oz washing soda is 2.89. The Zote soap is .50 cents. I only use 4 oz of borax and 8 oz of washing soda. The link to TipNut has 10 recipes, using various amount so soap, soda, borax and water. This is the one that was recommended and it works, so I'll stick with it. The first time I used Fels Naptha soap and there was no scent, but the Zote has a bit of a soapy smell. I hope it doesn't stick around after the rinse cycle, as I don't like soapy scents on my clothes.
Thought I'd compare per load prices to store bought detergent. My local grocery store has All/Surf on sale for $4.99 for a 40 load box. That's almost 12.5 cents per load, on sale. I think I've found detergent at discount stores for $2.50-and probably for a 40 load size-so that's over 6 cents per load. I think it's a big enough savings to make it worthwhile!
ReplyDeleteAt 5 loads per week, the box would last me 8 weeks. That comes to $32.44 per year. With the homemade stuff, it will last me two years (when I use it correctly!) and cost me $1.21 for the whole two years. I'm not even going to do the math for the percentage savings. My readers are smart and can see that $1.21 is a lot less than $64.88. :-) Happy Washing!