PENNY LAUNDRY SOAP.

This blog is steadily becoming all about DIY! If you don't mind, I don't! Truth is, I'm just posting what I do. Guess I do a lot of DIY. I knew that. I've been this way a LOOOONG time.

So when I heard you could make your own laundry soap, for cheap, easily, I couldn't resist. I have tweaked the recipe out a bit over time. Between four kids, a full time mom (usually with some spit up, food, or poop on my shirt), and a hardworking carpenter we get our clothes DIRTY. So I've had to make this recipe more concentrated over time. You'll find gentler effective recipes out there but this one is ours and it works for us. We make this about every four months. So only three times a year! And when I did the math recently, it came out to costing less than $.07 per load. That's right folks! Saving a heap over here! We fill up a four gallon bucket we got from Lowes for under $5 and it lasts us four months. That's doing laundry 3-5 times a week. Not to mention the times we leave the laundry in the washer too long and it spoils so we have to wash again. (Annoying!) It doesn't take long to make and it's kinda neat saying you make your own laundry soap. So we'd like to share our recipe with you. Feel free to tweak as you please. You can find the ingredients at your local Harris Teeter as I did.

P.S. I did the math on this on the high end of everything. So if you buy the ingredients for cheaper and use less per load you will save even more.

This is the Fels Naptha being shredded up. I used a cheaper version once because I couldn't get this. It was not as effective nor as pleasantly fragranced. Won't do that again! May try Ivory next time if in a pinch. And I also make homemade bath soap, and will probably try that too. But since I have a load of this, I use it.

1/2 large bar Fels Naptha or 2 bars Ivory

1 cup Washing Soda

1 cup Borax

Grate soap and put in sauce pan with 12 cups water. Heat until soap melts. Add powders and stir until dissolved. Remove from heat. Pour 8 cups hot water into bucket. Add soap mix and stir. Add 2 1/2 gallons and 4 cups water and stir well. Let stand 24 hours. Stir. Use 1/2-1 cups per load.

BONUS! Homemade Fabric Softener:

6c water

3c white vinegar

2c hair conditioner

Mix well, don't shake. Use 1/2c per load as usual.

With all the money you save on these two items, you can change lives around the world by donating your savings here.

Cheers!