Laundry Savings

About a year ago we started researching cost saving options for various items we use at home. I had heard you could make your own laundry detergent, but it seemed like too much of a pain, so I never bothered. That all changed whenever I heard how you could save quite a bit of money and use less harsh chemicals by going this homemade route. So how do you make it? It only takes 3 ingredients, and you can find them at the grocery store.

3 cups of Borax
3 cups of washing Soda
1 grated bar of Zote Laundry Soap - (buy 3 bars at a time so you have them on hand)

1 box of Borax is about $3 and contains about 9 cups (3 batches). 1 Box of Washing Soda is about $4 and you can get roughly 9 cups (3 batches) per box as well. Zote Laundry soap is only about $1 per bar (each bar is enough for 1 batch).

You simply add the ingredients in a container and stir or shake up until all is mixed together well. This makes 48-96 loads. We use a tablespoon scoop and usually only use 1 – 2 scoops per load. This comes out to about 4-8 cents a load! A box of top selling, brand name detergent can cost as much as 25 cents a load!

Have a smelly load to wash? Use ½ cup of vinegar in your wash and it will take out the odor (Works great on mildewed towels). It is also a natural fabric softener so you can add it to the Fabric Softener Dispenser in your washer instead of using regular fabric softener liquid (and NO your clothes won’t smell like vinegar after they are washed).

Finally, you can use ½ cup of Hydrogen Peroxide (3%) as a natural alternative to bleach! Just add a cap full or so to your whites and it will naturally whiten without you having to use harmful chemicals like bleach.

All these tips help you to save money and they are better than all the harsh chemicals that are found in other detergents and cleaners. Happy Cleaning!