Homemade laundry detergent for the win!

Last year a friend of mine made her own laundry detergent. A few months ago she declared she had finally used the last little bit of it. The batch of detergent lasted her family of six (including a baby) for 13 months. She claimed it was inexpensive, easy to make, and worked really well, even on particularly dirty laundry.

I had to try it myself.

Store-bought laundry detergent isn't cheap. However, all the ingredients combined to make my own detergent totaled about $23 (although I added a few optional extras, so one could actually spend closer to $10 without them). Because you only need to use about a tablespoon of detergent per load, this batch should last our family of four well over a year.

You don't have to be a math wizard to know that translates into a good deal of money saved, money you can put directly into your Disney vacation fund!

Here's what I used:

The Oxi Clean and Purex crystals were extras I decided to add to the basic recipe (on the recommendation of my laundry-detergent-making expert friend).

The process is easy. After shredding the soap bars, everything gets mixed together and that's it! You can shred the soap using a grater or a food processor (the latter being much easier on your arm muscles). Dump everything into a large container and mix it with your hands.

You can try different scents of soap and Purex to get whatever fragrance you want. I loved how good the detergent smelled by itself, but somehow the clothes don't end up saturated with smell (which is a good thing if you have a baby or anyone sensitive to fragrances in your family).

Just use a tablespoon of the concoction in every load of laundry.

And that's it.



Homemade Laundry Detergent:

1 large box of Borax
1 large box of Arm & Hammer Washing Soda
10 bars of soap

Optional:
1 tub of Oxi Clean stain remover
1 bottle of Purex crystals.

Shred the 10 bars of soap with a grater or food processor. Mix all ingredients together until well incorporated.