Are you constantly doing laundry? Does it feel like you are always buying laundry detergent?
If you are anything like me, I have four kids and I am doing at least two loads of laundry each day. – These are good days when no one is muddy, wet, or has accidents… which is rare... so that means I am usually doing more laundry-right?
What is in your current laundry detergent?
Most common laundry detergents contain a chemical called 1,4-Dioxane. This chemical is harmful to the body and is also in paints and varnishes. This chemical is said to present danger to respiratory systems and cancer-causing properties.
How do these chemicals get in your body?
The chemicals go from your clothes and absorb into your skin (your largest organ). This is scary because our clothes sit on our skin and most people aren’t aware that our skin absorbs these things so easily.
Let’s get rid of the yuck…
It is important to always do your own research when it comes to products you use in your home. Many people don’t do research because they think these products must be okay since they are being sold in the stores or they feel they don’t have the time to research.
A great way to know you are using great products is to make your own laundry detergent.
Ingredients Needed:
2 Gallon Container (preferably one with a spigot like this)
Borax powder or baking soda
Dr. Bronners Castile Soap
Distilled Water
How to Make:
Fill up your 2 Gallon container ¾ full of distilled water. Grab a small pitcher and fill it about ¾ full of distilled water.
Slowly pour ½ cup of Super Washing Soda into the pitcher –while stirring to ensure there aren’t any clumps.
Tip: If the Super Washing Soda is coming out of the box in clumps try to use a spoon and smash the clumps so you can ensure your laundry detergent doesn’t have those clumps.
While stirring the mixture in the pitcher—slowly pour ½ cup of Borax or Baking soda into the Washing Soda mixture.
Next, you will add ¾ cup of Dr. Bronners Castile Soap into the pitcher – again, while stirring.
Tip: I use the baby unscented Dr. Bronners Castile Soap because I don’t want my clothes to have a scent to them—example: if I bought a lavender scented soap and I am washing my husband’s clothes, he wouldn’t like that he smells like lavender all day.
The easiest part is adding two capfuls of the Thieves Cleaner into the pitcher. Mix well.
Pour the mixture into the 2-gallon container. Put the cover on and shake.
Use 1/3 cup of laundry detergent per load of laundry.
What to keep in mind?
- If you want the detergent to come out quicker through the spigot then you will open the lid a little to relieve some of the pressure—making it easier to come out. This is something that I do when the detergent is starting to get low.
- The first couple times you use the detergent you will have to shake the container to mix the detergent. This is something I do once a day for the first week. When it is done in the morning or for your first load of laundry that day—then it usually stays mixed pretty well for the remainder of the day.
How does this save you money?
Okay… so here’s the fun stuff. Keep in mind that these are approximations.
Borax: $9.99/pound and you are using approximately 3.6 ounces/2 gallons
This comes out to be $1.12/gallon
Super Washing Soda: $4.12/55 ounces and you are using approximately 3.6 ounces/2 gallons
This comes out to be $0.13/gallon
Dr Bronners Castile Soap: $18.50/32 ounces and you are using approximately 6 ounces/2 gallons
This comes out to be $1.73/gallon
Thieves Household Cleaner: (wholesale membership price) $23.50/14.4 fluid ounces and you are using approximately .48 ounces/2 gallons
This comes out to be $0.40/gallon
What does this mean? If you add all the prices per gallon you will get $3.38 per gallon. It is very difficult to find a laundry detergent on the market for that price per gallon.
How long does this last? This is hard to say because it depends on how many loads of laundry you do per day. Being I do at least two loads of laundry per day – I have only made this laundry detergent 3 times in an 8 months period and I still have LOTS of ingredients left to make more.
Calculating how many loads if you are using 1/3 cup of laundry detergent per load of laundry then this comes out to be about 50 loads of laundry per gallon. If you are using a 2-gallon container per the recipe above—then this comes out to being 100 loads of laundry at $6.76!
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