Cultivating my "sustainable" side

I say "sustainable" because, like my friend Sarah, I really don't like the term "greeeen" and I personally don't like to be associated with "greeeen" things. But I am all for saving some cash on a product that works great and doesn't have any nasty chemicals in it that I MADE MYSELF!

I got completely fed up with the laundry detergent I've been using (All Free & Clear), but having limited choices in the "dye free, fragrance free" detergents, I had to turn to alternative methods of getting our clothes clean and not having to worry about my Little Man's sensitive baby toddler skin. Sarah had mentioned before that she was making her own laundry soap, so I hopped on over to her blog to get the details. This stuff is super easy to make and the ingredients are a hellofalot cheaper than a container of detergent.

Handmade Laundry Detergent
Approx 4 oz. grated soap (comes out to about a standard sized bar)
2 cups borax
2 cups washing soda
1 cup baking soda
Mix well
Normal loads use - 1/8 cup

Cost of ingredients
- Kroger brand of soap: Chambray Soft (it smells like Dove). - two 4oz bars for $1.69, but you can use any bar of soap that you want.
- 20 Mule Team Borax - $4.32 for a 76 oz box
- Arm & Hammer Washing Soda - $2.99 for 55 oz box
- I already had a giant bag of Arm & Hammer Baking Soda that I bought at Costco like a year ago.
After taxes, my cost was $9.84.

The bottle of detergent I was buying at the store cost about $12, so the initial savings isn't huge, BUT you have to remember that you will get probably three batches out of the ingredients! If you want a more detailed cost break down visit Sarah's website, she went all in depth for her readers :)

I found the borax and washing soda at Fry's grocery store, which is owned by Kroger, so if you have either of those stores (or a Ralph's), you can find this stuff. Don't bother with Walmart, they didn't have a single ingredient there.




Grating the soap took about 20 minutes, but wasn't too hard to do.



The bar of soap all grated up.



Added the borax, washing soda, and baking soda.



The final product! I used a Glad 64oz storage container which was big enough to allow for a 1/8 cup measuring spoon to be put inside.



Laundry day is tomorrow, so I'll let you all know how well it works. If this little adventure is successful, I just might try my hand at making my own surface spray!



**Update 4/20 - I did four loads of laundry and everything came out looking clean and smelling good, so I'm gonna say that this handmade laundry soap works! Woot! I guess that means I'm going to have to go get myself a big spray bottle :)