Tuesday, February 12, 2013

Making the Switch to Homemade Liquid Laundry Detergent

I wanted to give a bit of an update on the laundry detergent I use.  I know I like to know how long things like this will last me if I make them myself.  Mainly because I'm an obsessive planner and it comforts me to know when I need to restock different things.

Last May I switched from using homemade powdered laundry detergent to homemade liquid laundry detergent.  I used the tutorial found here.

What was my reason for switching you ask?  For whatever reason my Mom's washing machine wasn't dissolving the powdered detergent as well as mine did.  Instead it was leaving a white powder on my dark clothes forcing me to rewash them.  Which I was not happy about. 

So rather than doing what some people would do and resorting to buying regular detergent I decided to try making my own liquid laundry detergent instead.  It was really easy and I ended up with a 5 gallon bucket full of liquid detergent.  I used Ivory bar soap instead of the Fels Naptha that others use, mainly because I'm cheap and I get the Ivory soap for about $0.60 or less for 3 bars with coupons. 

Now for the big question, How long does a 5 gallon bucket of homemade liquid laundry detergent last a family of 3?   For us it still isn't gone yet.  That's right it's been 9 months and I'm still on the same batch I made back in May of last year and I probably do about 4-5 loads of laundry a week (give or take).  The powder I used to use didn't last near that long and used more ingredients so I'm sticking with the liquid from now on.  You really can't beat the price.  I probably ended up spending less than $5 for the ingredients used in my batch and it's lasted 9 months.  I don't even think I could coupon and get that good of deals with regular store bought detergent. 

So for anyone out there wondering whether or not they should try to make their own and wondering if it will be worth their time......
DO IT!
 
Go to the store, buy what you need, make 5 gallons and sit back knowing you won't have to buy or make any more for a really long time.

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