Wednesday, December 26, 2012

Frugal Laundry Detergent

Part of my effort to save money and pay off debt is to become frugal in my lifestyle.  I admit that I sometimes find this to be difficult because I believe that for the most part my finacé and I are already pretty frugal.  To my delight I found a neat idea via pinterest (I'm addicted to pinterest) - Homemade Laundry Detergent!  How cool is that!?  After reviewing many many many recipes I can up with the following combination to try.  Here it is:

Homemade Laundry Detergent

  • 1 box of Washing Soda (Sodium Carbonate)
  • 1 box of Baking Soda (Sodium Bicarbonate)
  • 1 Box of Borax
  • 2 bars of Ivory Soap
  • 1 container of Downy Unstopables  
  • 1 large container with lid for mixing and storage

Instructions


  • Grate ivory soap on the fine part of your grater and add to container
  • Mix full box of Washing Soda, Borax and baking soda into container. 
  • Add in a mix entire container of your favourite scented Downy Unstopables and mix

Each ingredient was easily found at the grocery store and I already had ivory soap at home.  After I had my detergent mixed up, I removed the label from the Down Unstopables container and filled it up with detergent for easy use.  I can just fill up the lid (about 1/4 cup or less per load) and use it for a load of laundry.  I expect that this amount of detergent will last about 1 year.

How much did I pay for this wonderful detergent?  

Approximately:

Washing Soda (Sodium Carbonate)  - $8.00
 Baking Soda (Sodium Bicarbonate) - $5.00
 Borax - $12.50
 Ivory Soap (Already had) - (about $0.50/bar)
 Downy Unstopables - $7.00
Total: $33.50 (1 year for 2 people home)

What we used to buy:

Tide Liquid Laundry Soap (50 oz ) - $12.00
Downy Fabric Softner (77 oz) -$10.00 
Total:  $22.00 (25 loads)

We usually do about 2 and half loads of laundry per week including towels and other linens.

COMPARISON PER LOAD COST:  
(based on 130 loads of laundry per year)
Homemade $0.26
Store Bought: $0.88
SAVINGS = $0.62 cents per laundry load or $80.60 per year

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