Laundry Soap

Before I got married, I never really gave much thought to laundry soap. I grew up in a Tide home, but after graduating highschool and venturing into the brave new world, I just bought whatever had a good price on it when I needed to buy more. The Greenie Weenies raged around me about how it is better for the environment to purchase the eco-friendly (and super expensive) stuff, but I have always been too broke for that stuff. I just bought my super econo-friendly stuff and went about my life. This probably would have continued for years if the Dread Pirate Roberts did not have very definite thoughts on laundry soap - one brand and only one type within that brand. All Free and Clear. My laundry detergent world was rocked.

Now, All is not the most expensive detergent out there, but it is definitely not the cheapest either. The best price per load comes on the big giant bottle.....advertised as 114 loads for about $12 (about 10.5 cents per load). Watching sale prices closely, I could maybe save a dollar per bottle, but this is a whole lot of work watching the weekly sales at Target, planning extra money in the budget to stock up, and then finding a place to store all those huge bottles of soap - and it was still over 9 cents a load. (I have not done a tally to see if I actually got 114 loads out of a bottle. I suspect that it is less than that based on how often I need to replace the bottle. As such, the cost per load is likely higher. We can use their number for today.) 

Why do I care about 10 cents per load of laundry? It is only a dime, right? Wrong. For our family of three, I do about ten loads of laundry a week plus extra a few times a year for washing blankets and comforters. That is over $50 per year on laundry detergent. The thrifty part of me chafed at this number, but I had no idea how to do anything about it.

Then a friend of mine told me that she had made her only laundry detergent.

I was intrigued.

I went to the interwebs to learn all about the world of homemade laundry soap, and there is a ton of options out there. I spent more time than I would like to admit researching the different recipes as well as the pros and cons in the liquid vs. powdered debate. (I went with team powdered. It is less messy to mix and takes up less space to store.) 

After deciding on a recipe, I went to Target. I bought a box of Borax for $4 (enough to make 9 batches of detergent. I can probably find a better deal online for the next time that I need to purchase it, but I hate waiting when I get inspired.); I could not find washing soda, and I was too impatient to order it online, but a quick search of the interwebs informed me that I could make washing soda from baking soda. (You can in a pinch. It is a pain in the tush and does not really save any money. I would recommend just ordering it. Then you can have year round Christmas when the package arrives on your doorstep.) Normally washing soda runs about $4 a box (estimating enough to also make 9 batches). I did not need to buy a bar of soap for the project because the DPR has been saving his soap stubs in the linen closet for me when he gets a new bar of Irish Spring. I won't have enough stubs to make a whole batch the next time that I need it, so I will need to use some fresh bars of soap too. *insert mental math to determine cost of soap* I figure it will cost about $1 per batch for me to get the soap that I need between fresh bars of soap and the stubs going forward.

Here is how it breaks down. Each batch makes enough for 32 loads of laundry. (Possibly a bit more. We will use the low number for this though.) I can make 9 batches worth of laundry detergent for $17 which should wash 288 loads of laundry. This calculates out to just under 6 cents per load. 

Verdict: Win! 

• Save over $20 per year on laundry soap. 
• No more worrying that I will miss the week that detergent is on sale. 
• No more trying to find a place to store half a dozen huge bottles of detergent

For the Greenie Weenies out there - this method also uses a lot less packaging and is therefore eco-friendly in addition to being budget friendly.