Super Easy Laundry Detergent

We have made our own laundry detergent in the past - see Science in Action - and happily used it for a few years.  But somewhere along the way, in the busyness of life and schooling, it was simply easier to go to the store and buy a jug of detergent.

Then along comes Pinterest.

Daughter and I saw a Pin with a beautiful picture of homemade powdered laundry detergent in a big glass jar.  Functional AND Decorative!  Definitely worth a look see!

Now, to prove how easy the recipe is, I had looked at the post twice but didn't write anything down.  Several days went by and I kept thinking how I really wanted to give that a try;  ended up at the store yesterday and I was able to quickly remember the items needed, and at the Mart, they were all within a few feet of each other on the shelf.

The original post said it was under $20 to make.  Let's compare that to my receipt:

2 bars Fels Naptha soap, 0.97 each = $1.94
OxyClean (48 oz) = $9.47
Borax (76 oz)  = $3.38
Washing Soda (55 oz) = $3.24
Baking Soda (4 lb) = $2.24
which equals $20.27
I also opted to add the laundry crystals for another $4.76 bringing the grand total to $25.03

The original site said that she does about eight loads a week and this amount lasted her for nine months.  If mine lasts for nine months, then my detergent costs will be $2.78 a month for over thirty loads of laundry!

Not bad!!

Plus I had the excuse to buy one of these great oversize glass canisters that I've always wanted but never known what I would do with it - It holds this full recipe very attractively!

See original post here: http://beingcreativetokeepmysanity.blogspot.com/2010/11/homemade-laundry-soap.html