Today, our sweet friend Jen, from Blissful 55
is guest posting on Dirty Laundry. No, I am not talking about the
problems and dirty little secrets of our lives….we are talking legit,
dirty, smelly, laundry; or more importantly, how we get that dirty
laundry clean. 
It
took me a while to come around to the idea of making my own laundry
soap. I tend to be very particular about my laundry detergent. I need it
to not fade my colors, smell good, and most importantly clean well. I
do not have children at home who like to get their clothes extremely
dirty but I do have a husband who insist on coming home from softball
games each week looking like the Dirt Monster (he enjoys sliding…and is
usually always safe). I have never opted for just the cheapest,
non-smelling detergent. I love my clothes and was always worried that,
by paying for the cheapest detergent possible, I would “get what I paid
for”. My favorite detergent was Gain’s “Liquid Apple Mango Tango” with
the coordinating fabric softener.
It
met my every need, with the exception of the price tag. We always bought
the size that says it contains 48 loads for $10.97 (Wal-Mart price) and
that was just the detergent. The fabric softener was $4.47 for 52
loads. Both lasted us around 3 months based on our 4 loads of laundry a
week. That brings the total to around $60-$65 a year. I don’t know about
you but I would like to have all the extra money I can get. The
husbands law school expenses tend to cut down on my craft budget and
that is just unacceptable! I need my crafts to keep my sanity so I
started looking for ways to save money. I was seriously a huge skeptic
when it came to homemade laundry soap but when I realized the price
difference, I just had to try it! I did a ton of research and looked up
so many varying recipes and then determined what I thought would be
best. I tried one smaller batch, thought it was okay but knew there was
room for improvement so I went back and did more, yup you guessed
it….research! I’m thrilled to say that it was all worth it and I love
our homemade laundry detergent. So what do I have to do to entice you to
run to the store and get these ingredients? How about I share how much
it cost….are you ready? Try approximately $28…A YEAR! That’s based on 6
loads of laundry a week (It’s just me and Mr. Awesome at home so we
normally only do around 4, which means this will last around 18 months!)
Now let’s get started.
You will need…
1 (4 lb 12 oz) Box of Borax- Found in the detergent aisle
1 (3 lb 7 oz) Box of Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda- Found in the detergent aisle
1 (3 lb) Container of OxyClean- Found in the detergent aisle. (This is optional but I highly recommend adding it)
2 (14.1 oz) Bars of Zote Soap-
Found in the detergent aisle (we chose to do pink for the scent but the
white would be just fine. You can also use Fels Naptha)
1 (4 lb) Box of Arm & Hammer Baking Soda- Found in the cooking aisle (You could also get two 2 lb box, we couldn’t find the larger 4lb box when we went)
1-2 (55 oz) Bottle of Purex Crystals Fabric Softener- or use 3-4 bottles of Scentsy Washer Whiffs. Scentsy washer whiffs are my top choice, (they smell out-of-this-world amazing – my favorite is Quiver), but when in a hurry, I opt for the Purex, (which can be found in the detergent aisle).
The
hardest most time consuming part is grating the cheese soap. The hubs
thinks it looks like pink cheese….has anyone ever seen pink cheese? Ya
didn’t think so! I’m not fortunate enough to have a food processor so I
was stuck doing this with a typical hand grater. I did try a blender
just for kicks and giggles….total fail! Stick to either a hand grater or
food processor if you are blessed enough to have one. I should make it
known that the soap dissolves just fine, even in cold water. I know that
tends to be a concern but you need not worry. Oh and I would recommend
using a large mixing bowl to grate into and using the fine side of the
grater. 
Another option is to microwave the soap before hand. First, cut the bar into chunks, like this:
Pop it into the microwave for about a minute. It will expand… a lot…but then it is dry and just crumbles into tiny bits!
The hardest part is now over and all
that’s left is to mix everything together. I used a very large bucket
that I got from my Father-in-Law and took a layering approach to mix it
easier. I took a small amount of each ingredient and layered it on top
of each other, then I grabbed a large mixing spoon and mixed it
together. I did this probably 5 times but it was so much easier than
dumping all the ingredients in at once and then trying to mix it well.
Here it is in all it’s mixed up glory.
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9/15/13
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Just
to give you an idea of how long this bottle lasts, I’ve used about half
this bottle and have done around 40 loads, not to mention the huge
amount still left in my bucket.
I know that I’m not the only skeptic out their so to put your mind at ease, take a look at the comments!
I
thought I would answer the question that has been sent in the most by
our readers. The question is how well it worked in a High Efficiency
Washer. It actually works really well! This is mostly because it doesn’t
create any suds. It took me some time to get used to that but it is
actually better for the washer.
Hope
this motivates you all to run out and make our own batch. We would love
to hear from you whether it be your questions, concerns, or reviews of
the soap after you have made it. And don’t forget to stop by and check
out Blissful 55′s other projects!
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