Thursday, April 2, 2009

Suds in the Bucket

Well, I made laundry detergent today. I'm super excited and want everyone to know about it. Okay, well, maybe just the four of you. I figured it up and it costs me about $2.50 for 10 gallons of laundry detergent. That's over $150 in saving in a year. That might not sound like a lot, but every time I go to the store and have to buy detergent, we usually don't get a few food items that I would usually buy that day, so it really is pretty awesome. My initial investment was more than $2.50 (more like $10), but I won't have to buy the bucket again and the borax will last a long time. It also has some great cleaning uses.

All this came from the Duggars. My brother told me about it because he started using it and likes it.
Here's the recipe and directions:

Ingredients:

1 bar of Fels-Naptha soap (Ivory works too)
4 C hot tap water
1 C washing soda (can be found at Kroger)
1/2 C borax (in the laundry detergent isle on the top)
Equipment needed:
5 gallon bucket w/ lid
cheese grater
long stirring utencil
laundry soap dispensesr

Directions:

Grate soap.

(Not Cheese)
Add to 6 qt saucepan along with 4 C water and heat over medium heat until the soap is melted/dissolved.
Make sure you keep an eye on it because when it starts to heat up it gets foamy. Meanwhile, fill the bucket 1/2 full of hot tap water and add borax and washing soda. Stir until dissolved. When the soap is dissolved, add to the bucket and stir well. Fill the rest of the way with hot tap water and stir. Put the lid on and let set up overnight. It will be thick in the morning. Xaiden not getting to play in the bubbles

To use:
Fill 1/2 of dispenser full of detergent and 1/2 of hot tap water. Shake before each use.
Top load washer - 1/2 c. per load
Front load washer - 1/4 c per load

I hope this helps ya'll out. Thanks to the Duggars, we can all save money!!!

1 comment:

  1. I make a dry version with one fels naptha bar, one cup borax, and one cup washing soda and it works pretty good too. You only use 3 tablespoons per load. It is nice though because you don't have to shake the soap and it stores in a little tupperware container instead of the big bucket. Just a suggestion. Way to be a great saver though!

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