Homemade Laundry Soup

So... let's just say this day got off to a less than stellar start. The boys must have caught a stomach bug earlier in the week from their totally awesome, amazing nanny. Jared had the tummy aches yesterday and had a hard time sleeping - he kept waking up in tears until about 11pm. Tim and I were up anyway working out the final drafts of his MP1 App when we heard our #2 son wake up, start jabbering in his crib, then totally start crying around midnight. Tim went in to check on Will and we discovered he had thrown up everywhere. Poor baby ... commence the cleaning of the baby, washing of the precious blankie, etc. etc. An hour or two later I finally had him back down for the night.

Suffice it to say that morning came a little too early for me. Holy cow, was I worn out.

We had a late breakfast and kicked around the house in pj's. While serving up the boys' Bananas, (no Rice), Applesauce, and Toast, I came across several bruised bananas that were way past being ok to eat and decided to bake some banana bread. I've sort of committed to stopping to purchase bread and just make my own - one of many small (and fun) efforts I am tackling to shrink our grocery budget. I am so blessed to have a husband committed to providing and providing well for our family - he is doing such a great job on our "offense". We've decided that my position on our family team is to really get after our "defense" and look for new ways to save - it's been pretty fun, really. I mean, who knew I would like making bread or cooking up laundry detergent? ;-)

Anyway... funny story for today. I am mixing on one side of the counter the butter and sugar and reach out to grab the bag of bananas I had peeled and separated for the bread, but ... no bananas. I walk around to the other side of the counter and their is little Will - looking up at me with a very guilty expression (and half smile). He is holding the empty bag (which used to hold the bananas), next him is Daisy dog who is licking her lips (and also smiling, if dog's can smile). Man oh man... these funny boys!! Luckily I had some previously frozen bananas with which to substitute and all was not lost thanks to my little "helper".

So... speaking of shrinking the grocery budget (and laundry in desperate need of washing), I came across a recipe for homemade laundry soap on the website for the Duggar Family ... you know? 18 and counting? I decided it was worth a try and finally tackled it today ... below are the steps if you want to try it yourself.

The Duggars estimate the cost of their recipe to be about $2. Being new to the homemade laundry soap game, I estimate my recipe to cost a little over $3 ... I had never heard of most of these things and have NO idea how to get Fels Naptha soap by the case!!

I have previously purchased All Free N Clear ... which runs about $10-$11 for 110 Loads. Here's my calcs on what we'll be saving if we like this stuff based on an average of 50 loads/month:

	Cost	Loads Yield	$/Load	Freq./Mo
All Free-N-Clear	$ 12.00	110	$ 0.11	Buy every 2.2 months
Homemade	$ 3.23	640	$ 0.01	Make every 12.8 months

OK ... so while that works out to roughly $5/month, every nickel counts and this only took me 15-20 minutes TOTAL to make. In case you, too, are interested, here is how:

Homemade Liquid Laundry Soap- Front or top load machine- best value

4 Cups hot tap water
1 Fels-Naptha soap bar (Safeway Laundry aisle)
1 Cup Washing Soda (there is an Arm N Hammer brand washing soda, but I couldn't find it anywhere. Ingredient is sodium carbonate and can be found in the pool section at Safeway or Home Depot)
½ Cup Borax (Safeway Laundry Aisle)

- Grate bar of soap and add to saucepan with water.

(I thought I would "outsmart" the recipe and use my food processor to grate ... didn't work. Just bite the bullet and grate fully by hand.)

Stir continually over medium-low heat until soap dissolves and is melted. (Again, make sure soap is fully grated before additing to the water ... large chunks of soap will not dissolve and melt! Also, it would be a good idea make sure the fan is on over your stove and the windows open - this stuff smells good, but pretty potent when you are standing directly over it and stirring)

-Fill a 5 gallon bucket half full of hot tap water. Add melted soap, washing soda and Borax. Stir well until all powder is dissolved. Fill bucket to top with more hot water. Stir, cover and let sit overnight to thicken.

-Stir and fill a used, clean, laundry soap dispenser half full with soap and then fill rest of way with water. Shake before each use. (will gel)

-Optional: You can add 10-15 drops of essential oil per 2 gallons. Add once soap has cooled. Ideas: lavender, rosemary, tea tree oil.

-Yield: Liquid soap recipe makes 10 gallons.

-Top Load Machine- 5/8 Cup per load (Approx. 180 loads)

-Front Load Machines- ¼ Cup per load (Approx. 640 loads)

So... I'm done for now and need to let it sit overnight. Bummer that the remnants of our late night stomach flu party will have to wait ... but, on the bright side ... that means I should be able to get in a MUCH needed nap! Hopefully, I will be a better mommy after I wake up! ;-)

I had to purchase much larger quantities of Borax and the washing soda than what the recipe calls for and actually spent a little over $20 total. Although that is more than 2 containers of All ... I figure the other ingredients will last several years or I can split with a friend ... bottom line, this is all an experiment people. I'm willing to do anything if it means I get to stay home with my boys (yes, Alicia, that is the sound of me eating my words ... remember our mindset before we had kids??)

	Cost	# Receipes	$/Recipe
Washing Soda (1 C/Load)	$ 10.88	12	$ 0.91
Fels Naptha Soap	$ 1.79	1	$ 1.79
Borax (1/2 C / Load)	$ 7.99	15	$ 0.53
	$ 20.66		$ 3.23

So ... does this mean I am done for buying/making laundry detergent until 2010??? I'll keep you posted.

Also ... I have plenty of the washing soda and borax ... if any of you in town are considering making your own ... let me know and I will split it with you!