Saturday, July 21, 2012

So fresh and so clean clean.

Now, Just for the record, No, I am not crazy. Borderline for sure, But not entirely.
A few months ago I would probably look at someone who made their own hand soap, cloth diapered, didn't use paper towels, and made their own laundry detergent and think that they were some weird tree huggin' hippy that smelled gross. 
I am not going to wear clothes that are stinky and yucky just to save a buck.
Sarah and I decided that we were going to make our own laundry soap. Now, I have used a homemade powdered version for my cloth diapers, but I had never tried the homemade liquid. Don't judge until you try it. It really is awesome and I'm not kidding in the least when I say that it works BETTER than the expensive store bought stuff. Sarah and I both tried it and really put it through the ringer in our tests and both had excellent results. Pardon our "dirty laundry" but I put stinky urine soaked pajamas in the wash, and normally I'd have to wash those twice or use a ton of soap to get the stink out, But this soap did it in one shot and they smelled so fresh and so clean clean. {don't act like you didn't just sing that and pretend that you're Outcast}  
Sarah put stinky stale gym clothes AND dirty wash rags in a load and same result. So fresh and so clean clean. {I'm going to have that song stuck in my head all day, Well, at least the chorus, Because I can't understand what big boi is saying in those verses}

We are not the only ones who came to find that this stuff worked just as good as the store bought stuff. Check out this girls blog to see her results. 

{pardon our gross stinky selves, We'd just got back from the gym}
 We used the Duggars recipe. You can find it here. I love the Duggars. 

I found the fels naptha bar and the borax and washing soda at the town center Publix on the laundry detergent isle.
 Sarah grated and I stirred. Next time, I will wear one of those face masks... That fels naptha bar is no joke when you grate it. It is VERY strong smelling. Like hurt to breathe.
 Sarah scooped and dumped and I stirred... A lot.

 Then, We waited... overnight. It felt like eternity. The next day {after the gym} we filled our old laundry containers. I have never been so excited to do laundry in my life!
 We did not add essential oils. It smells great with just the fels naptha bar. And Sarah made a good point, When you wash with the free and clear, it has no smell, not clean, and not dirty. But I also don't like a really strong scent. This leaves your clothes with a nice clean not over powering fragrance! Brent has ridiculously sensitive skin, and he has not had a problem wearing his clothes that are washed in this. No rashes. Hallelujah! Because all his sensitive bath washes, diapers wipes and lotions were costing me a bazillion dollars. I'm pretty sure I've found frugal ways around all of those now!
 We did the math are you ready for this? The Clorox greenwise from Costco is $14. We refilled that container for .45 cents. Let me say that again... FORTY FIVE CENTS to refill that HUGE jug! And it uses about the same amount per load {A cap full for a top loader} 
And not so much for a front loader. {I never measure my laundry soap. I'm lazy}
The kirkland free and clear which is what I was using before, is $16. That's a BIG fat savings. I will say that when I coupon for laundry soap I can get it cheaper than that, But nowhere close to as cheap as this homemade stuff. I do not use this for the cloth diapers {I've read that it could shorten the life of the absorbancy} So I do still buy rockin' green for those. But for my regular laundry... I will NEVER buy laundry soap again.

This makes a huge 5 gallon bucket that you dilute again when you refill your smaller jugs. So really it makes ten gallons. I have a huge bucket sitting on my counter {because I don't have a lid for it yet} So if you want to try it, Come on over and I'll fill up your old laundry detergent container.

6 comments:

  1. You are such an inspiration!!! I want to try this, too!! How much did it cost to make the whole bucket?

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  2. I'm so glad your pictures are fuzzy and thanks for adding that we had just gotten done at the gym, which is why we were looked to fabulous. I just wanted to say that you've had some crazy schemes before, but this one was AWESOME! I love this detergent! It was super easy to make, super cheap (free for me, well I did buy the bucket, that was my contribution) and so far, it works great. We didn't even need the drill to mix it, just used a little elbow grease. This one is a winner!

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  3. *were looking so fabulous. I am terrible at typing on my phone!

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  4. literally elbow grease... I mixed that bucket with my arm.
    The fels naptha is about $1.75 and I had the borax and washing soda. which i bought previously and they were about $3-$4 a box. And there is enough borax and washing soda to make SEVERAL batches. I'm guesstimating that it is about $3 worth of ingredients to make the entire bucket.

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  5. What did it look like the next morning? Did I not mix it long enough? It looked like it all separated from the water :(

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  6. Does it work the same for HE washers?

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