Money-Stretching Monday - Laundry Detergent

Welcome to the first Money- Stretching Monday! I love making our money go as far as I can and learning new ways to do that.   Some things I have learned through sheer necessity and coming up with creative solutions.

Today I want to share one of my favorite money saving tips... making your own laundry detergent.  With three children, we have a lot of laundry.  Running several loads of laundry a week can add up to a lot of money spent on laundry detergent.  This homemade laundry detergent was shown to me by a dear friend with eight children.  It is so easy, saves so much money, and makes your house smell so good.  And, you can even use it in High Efficiency washers.

What you will need:

~a big bucket or container to hold 2 gallons  (we recycled a plastic pretzel container)

~Fels Naptha Soap  

~ 20 Mule Team Borax

~ a saucepan
~a grater


What you do:

1- fill saucepan 3/4 of the way full of water
2- cut 1/3 of  the bar of Fels Naptha and grate it over the saucepan
3- bring water to a boil and dissolve the soap
4- add 1/2 cup of Borax to pan
5- add 1/2 cup washing soda to pan
6- make sure mixture is completely dissolved
7- remove from heat
8- add mixture to your container
9- fill container to the 2 gallon mark with hot water
10- stir well

Notes:

*as the mixture sets, it will become a gel-like substance
*use 1/2 cup of detergent per load of laundry

That is it.  Seriously, it is that easy.  The whole process takes very little time and effort.  You get a big bang for you buck and your house will smell so good in the process.   I only need to make a batch of the detergent about once a month.  If you have children, you can have them help you make it!

Here's to clean laundry and saving money!

Praying you have many blessings and much joy!
Kristen