Making Laundry Soap

In trying to cut our grocery bills, I've looked at the highest-priced goods that we purchase regularly or fairly regularly. In reading about being thrifty and cutting costs I've seen plenty of references to making your own laundry soap and goodness knows the stuff isn't cheap at the store so, being the thrifty individual I am, I thought I'd give it a try.

The recipe I used can be found at http://www.thesimpledollar.com/2008/04/09/making-your-own-laundry-detergent-a-detailed-visual-guide/ . There may be other recipes on the internet, too. I'd wanted to use Fels-Naptha soap just because I haven't seen it before but, not being able to find it easily, I ended up using Ivory and used the 3.1-oz sized bar. We try to not use antibacterial products and it can really limit your soap options at the store. Try to use something without perfumes and it limits your options even more.

Making the soap wasn't bad at all. I'd read that it enabled a person to make a mess and it be okay, but I didn't find it messy. And normally I can make a mess out of anything, it's one of my gifts. In fact, it was astonishingly easy to make this stuff. I kept thinking, "When is the hard part?" but there wasn't one, except maybe the letting it sit overnight. Waiting to see the final result was difficult for me.

The end product was more liquid than I had expected since it sat overnight to thicken but it seems to work well for its purpose. There isn't any smell to it but I tend to dislike strongly perfumed detergents anyway. However, I've realized that the light, fresh scent of newly cleaned laundry is something I miss so I am going to try adding some essential oil one of these days. But even without scent it is getting our clothes and towels and even the dogs' beds clean so I'd call it a success. Better yet, it means we can skip the stinky detergent aisle in the grocery store and not spend that extra $10. She shoots, she scores, lol.