I have seen posts here and there on making your cleaning supplies, but since I usually find items like Windex and toilet bowl cleaner for free, I have not yet explored this as a way to save money.
One of the household cleaning items that it seems I cannot ever - EVER, get for free is laundry detergent. Laundry detergent is a big expense - even though I try to find it on sale and use coupons. It is an area that I would love to reduce my spending on!
I do a lot of laundry. There are only 4 of us - but my 5 year old seems to make as much laundry as the rest of us combined!
Now, I have to admit that making homemade supplies has not been on my frugal list of things to do - until I saw a video last week from Trent at The Simple Dollar. It gave me hope that I can both make laundry soap easily and save myself a lot of $ while I do it!
Here is the video:
You can go to Trent's video and post here. You can read an older post he did about making laundry detergent here - this one includes the ingredient list.
So what do you think? Has anyone made their own detergent and what type of results have you had? Also, have you made other homemade cleaners? What have the results been?
5 comments:
I do make my own laundry detergent, with great results. It's easy, and after spending a little time on a weekend making GALLONS of the stuff, we're set for a very long time. We just ran out of the last batch, but I was able to score some free laundry detergent a little while back, so we'll use that, and I can put off making a new batch. The homemade stuff has no scent, but does seem to get clothes clean. The initial outlay for the supplies is more than you'd pay for laundry detergent typically, but the supplies are enough to make many, many batches.
I use vinegar for a number of cleaning tasks around the house, and it works very well, and is so simple as an all-purpose cleaner.
Joanna - do you use this same "recipe" - if not will you share yours with us?
Do you know - is the type of soap important that you use? It seems like you can get the deodorant types of soaps (Irish Spring, Dial etc) for free or cheap a lot - but I was wondering if you needed a more "pure" type of soap like "Ivory" or "Pure and Natural"
Thanks!
I used this same recipe for a while. Now I use the recipe, but I double the amount of Borax and Washing Soda. I also put some drops of Lavendar Essential Oil. I use vinegar as my "fabric softner". I have done this for over a year now. I do use Fels Naptha, but my MIL uses Ivory. I can get all of these products at Kroger and usually pay less than $6.00 total for everything. I do find that I need to throw in some extra Borax when I do my kitchen towels and dish rags.
I also make my own pledge and my cousin makes several of her own cleaning products.
I posted several DIY recipes on my blog:
http://extraordinaryordinarylife.wordpress.com/do-it-yourself/
I use vinegar for a lot of cleaning stuff too-it's cheap and can do pretty much everything. I use 1 cup vinegar w/ 1 cup water in a spray bottle. If you take the trigger off and put the bottle in the microwave for 30 seconds or so and then spray the warmed vinegar on soap scum-it works wonders! :)
Candace-
You do need a more pure soap- I actually use Fels Naptha, which you mentioned in your post today. Next time I make a batch, I'll probably use Ivory, though. Zote soap is another option, I've read. Typical body soaps or face soaps have too many added oils and aren't concentrated enough to be effective. To add a scent, some people add essential oils to the mix, but I haven't tried it.
Another note: I make the liquid laundry detergent because we're on a septic system, and the dry powder isn't supposed to be good for it.
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