Homemade Liquid Laundry Soap

ALL YOU Grocery Challenge

I know that laundry detergent is not a part of the grocery challenge, but I have to mention it because the savings is amazing! My family and I made our first batch of laundry soap in October 2009. I wasn't sure what to expect, but it was super easy. Even if I would have messed it up, we would have only wasted a few dollars. It was worth the try!

Before using laundry soap, I was buying store brand eco friendly laundry soap at a wholesale store. We were paying around $17 for laundry detergent every 2-3 months. The homemade laundry detergent costs only about $.05/ load. It would be even cheaper if we had an energy saver washing machine. By using homemade laundry soap, we are saving about a hundred dollars a year. So, by the time our kids graduate from high school, we will have saved around $1800 on laundry soap!

I use the Duggar's recipe (scroll down) and found all the ingredients at Publix. My family of 5 will only need to make this recipe 2 times per year.

If you are new to homemade cleaning products, you are probably wondering what you are going to do with the leftover ingredients. After all, you will probably not have to make the laundry soap very often. I use the leftover borax and washing soda in my dishwasher.

Diswasher

Pre-Wash:

1/2 tablespoon Borax

1/2 tablespoon Washing Soda

Main Wash:

1 tablespoon Borax

1 tablespoon Washing Soda

I use white vinegar for the rinse.

The eco benefits of homemade laundry soap are that it's all-natural and it cuts out having to recycle those large laundry detergent containers (not to mention the ones not being recycled).

As and added price reducer, there is usually a Borax coupon (scroll down) for $.35 off, which will double at a lot of grocery stores.

After using homemade laundry soap, I will likely never buy regular laundry detergent again... unless it's free ; )

-Robin