Tuesday, January 29, 2013

$1.28 for laundry soap?!?!

Budgets can be a real bummer! Creating them, sticking to them, going over them... blah! However on the flip side there is great potential for creativity with in a budget. I have a budget! A nice tight little budget that keeps us comfortable. Even still, I am always on the hunt for new and improved ways to create just a hair more wiggle room with in that budget. 
Approximately three months ago I decided to try and make my own laundry soap. I started with the dry mixture, moved to a liquid mixture and am currently on the cream mixture. All versions have left my clothes clean and smelling great! I have spent $9 total on the required ingredients. 




Borax $3.50
Washing Soda $3.50
Falths Naptha Soap $0.99
Zote Soap $0.99 (not pictured)


   Up first was the dry mixture because it was super easy to make! Just grate the soap into the powder, stir and, go. It dissolves and cleans beautifully. The only draw back to the dry mixture, for me, was the dust it kicked back made me sneeze. 
   I found the liquid mixture was much better for the sneezing, a little more time consuming with the cooking, cooling and transferring from pot to storage. The only draw back I found was the logistics of moving it from the storage bottle to the washer. This transfer was a bit sloppy but, that was largely attributed to my method of storage (large white vinegar bottle). I'm sure with a different storage method, I could have eliminated the messy.
   Now the cream mixture is, by far, my favorite! I have done 3 loads with it so far and found it easy to dispense, is in a condensed state making storage a breeze. I have it in a small coffee can and a large parmesan cheese bottle versus, a large white vinegar bottle, a parmesan cheese container and a pitcher as I had the liquid. I will note I was able to make this without the aid of the two quart sized mason jars, however helpful they would have been it is possible to do it with out. Reasoning behind the quart sized mason jars was to put the liquid in, straight from cooking, and turn it upside down. Suspending the liquid upside down to cool is vital to the process. As the recipe states "you don't want to know how we know this, we just do."
   There you have it! Laundry soap for three months for $9.00. You cannot even buy one container from Cost Co for that amount. Happy budget! More room for coffee...yum!!


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