Laundry Soap

I know I have mentioned before that I like to be frugal.  My husband and I have always been a little bit more conservative when it comes to spending our money (after all, it's not really OUR money anyways...it's all God's).  We love Dave Ramsey and we even have his Act Your Wage board game (bought 1/2 price as a Christmas gift last year) and Ethan has the "give", "save", "spend" banks and Financial Peace Junior. Also bought on sale.  We believe in striving to be and stay debt free and we would LOVE to be able to adopt debt free as well (although we have agreed that adoption is something that we would go into debt for if there was absolutely no way around it).  I thought I might occasionally post some of the things we do to save money and live within the blessings that we have.

Today I wanted to let you guys in on a little secret that has probably saved us an estimated $300 over the past 2 years.  Homemade laundry detergent.  Yup.  It will be 2 years in January since I started making our own laundry soap.  I started with liquid and about a month ago changed to the powder recipe.  I like it SO much better and it is SO much less messy/easier to make!  Here is the recipe I use now that I found HERE (well, really I found it on pinterest and it took me to there):

1 bar Fels-Naptha (grated)
1 cup Borax
1 bar Goats Milk Soap
2 cups Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda

First, I grated the soaps.  I didn't even think about using the grater on my food processor, but I used my cheese grater and it worked just fine.
Next, put grated Fels-Naptha in food processor and swirl until it's as tiny as you can get it.  Then add Borax and pulse, add goats milk soap and pulse, then the soda and pulse until well mixed.  Make sure to store in an air tight container and use 1-2 Tbs per load depending on need.

Here is just a few notes about this process...

Your grated Fels-Naptha will look like grated cheese.  Almost yummy enough to eat...almost...

You can use Baking Soda instead of Washing Soda in a pinch (or if you happen to still have some from the 13 pound bag you bought at Sam.s Club).  I have always used Baking Soda, it's easier to find and it has always worked with my liquid detergent and fabric softener.  

I love it!  It has worked great on all my loads so far and the only stain I have yet to get out is a pesky ink stain on one of my hubby's shirts (any advice on this one?

So, there it is, I don't think I will ever pay $7 for detergent again when I can make it for pennies per load!

What are some of your favorite money saving ideas?

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