How to Save Money by Making Your Own Liquid Laundry Detergent

How much does your laundry detergent cost per laundry load? It's easy to figure out. Take the cost of the box/bottle of detergent and divide it by the number of loads. Once you come up with a number, write it down on a sheet of paper and compare it with the per laundry load cost of preparing your own detergent.

It takes about 15 minutes to make your own homemade liquid laundry detergent and about 10 minutes to make powdered laundry detergent using all natural ingredients that you can purchase from your grocery store. Here is what you'll need:

Ingredients:

* 3.1 oz bar Ivory soap (Ivory is chosen because it's all natural. You may use a soap of your choice)
* 1 cup 20 Mule Team Borax
* ½ cup Arm & Hammer Washing Soda
* Water

Tools:

* 5 Gallon container
* Knife
* Pot large enough to hold 5 cups of water
* Long stirring stick/spoon (for 5 gallon container)

Instructions:

Shave the soap into small strips and place in the pot with 5 cups of water. Bring the water just shy of a boil and stir until the soap is completely melted. When the soap is just about melted, pour 3 gallons of hot water into the 5-gallon container and let it sit until the soap in the pot is totally melted. Once all of the soap shavings are melted, pour the mixture into the 5-gallon container and stir.

Once the soap and water are thoroughly stirred, add the ½ cup pf washing soda and stir until dissolved. Once the washing soda is dissolved, pour in the cup of borax and stir again until dissolved.

Optional: Essential Oils for fragrance. If you like fragrant detergent, now is when you can add a few drops of your favorite essential oils.

Now you've got a huge container of hot soapy looking water. Cover the container, place it somewhere out of the way and let it sit overnight. Once it's cooled it will gel. It will not gel uniformly so it will be lumpy and watery. It may not be very attractive, but it works. It's best find smaller storage containers for convenience.

Usage: ½ cup per laundry load is adequate to clean your clothes. This homemade laundry detergent works well in high efficiency washing machines since it is low sudsing.

One word of caution, if using a high efficiency machines: Before pouring the lumpy gel into the detergent receptacle, stir it to break up the lumps. Very large lumps may not fully dissolve, stirring the detergent with a spoon, pencil, or whatever you have available (or your finger), works fine.

Yield:

This recipe yields 442 oz of laundry detergent, of which 4 oz are required per laundry load. With this recipe you should be able to wash 110 ½ loads of laundry.
Cost break down:

As of May, 2007, the purchase price for the ingredients in the Northeastern area of the United States are as follows:

* Borax: $2.50 for 70 oz.Cost per batch: .28 (8 oz needed for recipe)
* Washing Soda: $2.50 for 55 oz.Cost per batch .18.(4 oz needed for recipe)
* Ivory Soap: $.99 for 3 3.1 oz. Bars.Cost per batch: .33 (1 bar of soap needed for recipe)

Cost to make: .79

Yield: 442 oz.

Cost per oz. = .00178

Cost per ½ cup = .007 or rounded to .01 cent per load

The cost to wash 110.5 loads with homemade laundry detergent is $1.11. How does that compare to your store-bought detergent?

For another cost saving cleaning tip, why not try making your own liquid hand soap or use a natural, non-toxic way to get rid of household bugs .