Ok, I have spent most of my day doing laundry. I wonder how may other Stay-as-home-moms spend most of their day doing laundry? I know that on average most families do at least 1 load a day. I know that I average that and we have 6 people in this house. I wonder just how much money we spend on laundry detergent? I am not talking about fabric softener, water, or electricity. Just the washing powders!?!?!? Do you know? I had no clue, but I can honestly say I now I do. I make my own. I average about $0.39 a load, JUST IN WASHING POWDERS. Can you imagine? I have been making mine for a little over a year, and I cant even figure up all the money I have saved! So lets see if we can figure it up: a big box of detergent is what $10.50? The stuff I use is Borax which is about $6.00 a box (depending on where you buy) Washing Soda which is about $5.00 a box (depending on where you buy) and Ivory soap which is about $3.99 for 8 bars (I think) So lets see here, we are up to about $14.99 and with that I can make enough to last me about 9 months!!! Yes that's right, I said 9 MONTHS!!! Now I know what you are thinking, there is no way. AH but there is. I only use 1 tablespoon per load, or 2 if the laundry is REALLY dirty. I always make enough to fill up a container that holds a 5 pound bag of sugar or what not, and that last me 6 months. AGAIN I have 6 people in my house. I want to add here that I own a front loading high efficiency washer to. I also live in the country and have a septic tank. So if I can try to save that much money a day/week/month/year, why not? My husband found me the recipe. It is so simple.
We also found a recipe to make our own automatic dishwasher powders too. However we no longer use them. It leaves a powdery film on my dishes and some even come out still dirty. Even though I have a BRAND NEW dishwasher! So we started using the store bought stuff again! But I do not use the store bought rinsing agent. I use white vineger. No my dishes do not come out smelling or tasting like vineger.
Hi, got your link from Crystal. I've seen and read about people doing this for years now and you would think as much as I like to save money I would do this, but I don't. Why? Lazy? Maybe, but I think in my mind I worry about the smell. I LOVE my clothes to smell good and I worry that if I make my own it won't smell good. I got the New Purex crystals in the mail last week, and my family Loves it! "I have to get my review written still." Anyway I LOVE them and the smell is awesome, so I am thinking maybe I'll try making my own soap and use the crystals with it. Since I use coupons for everything I don't spend that much or at least as much as the average mom.
ReplyDeleteSo, I am happy you are saving and making your own detergent and just maybe you have convinced me finally to try it. If I do I'll come back and let you know about it. :)
Come by and visit me on my blog please. I have a FREE $10 up today.
I'll be back anyway I love to read other peoples rants and raves, at least it lets me know I am not the only one who gets pissed when people don't put the cart back. Only time I give an excuse to myself is if it's pouring and then I still feel guilty, so it really has to be storming.
Laura
Laura, Thanks for reading. From everythin I have read about making my own laundry stuff, you can use a different kind of soap. There are many recipes out there. Try it. Thats all you can do. I have a friend that actually tried a batch and used Irish Spring. It smelled good.
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