Do Your Laundry For Pennies Per Load

Okay maybe pennies are stretch if you consider the cost of water and energy to run your washer and dryer, BUT making your own detergent will cost you pennies. I was skeptical at first, because, let's be honest, not all do-it-yourself solutions have the best results, and I'm sort of used to having my clothes clean and smelling fresh. This little recipe actually gets your clothes clean, plain and simple, without dyes, and fragrances. AND it's "high efficiency" friendly because it creates a low amount of suds. I have super sensitive skin, and would usually buy fragrance free detergent anyway. As far as I can tell, this does the same amount of cleaning for pennies a load.

Chris prompted me to make this one because he read a few Reddit articles about cutting costs at home. This mixture is from DIY Natural.  I'm writing this post now because I just had to make a new batch yesterday. I made the first batch over a year ago.  It consists of the following ratio...

• 1 bar (or 4.5 ounces) of shaved bar soap (Dr. Bronner’s, Ivory, ZOTE, Fels-Naptha)
• 1 cup of borax
• 1 cup of washing soda

Thoroughly mix. That's it. The links show you what the boxes look like because when I first read this I hadn't the faintest idea what borax and washing soda were. It turns out they were hiding out in the laundry aisle with everything else all along.

I use Fels-Naptha for the soap component. It has a clean laundry-like scent. My mom uses it for washing her hands and arms after working in the garden. She claims it's very gentle and will eliminate any trace of poison ivy or other irritant. It has the consistency of a thick bar of chocolate. The first batch I made, I grated it as they suggested, and it took a little longer than I would have hoped. My mother-in-law said she tried it, and used her spice grinder instead of grating. So much easier! I used my Cuisinart food processor to grind it into a homogeneous powder.

After that, all you need is a tablespoon for each regular sized load (shown above).  Amazing, but true!