Making your own Laundry Detergent and Fabric Softener

Laundry detergent is way over priced, even the stuff you get at the large outlet stores.  I had been reading a lot about making your own detergent and finally decided to do just that!  I wasn't too sure how it was going to turn out but the cost savings couldn't be beat and I am glad that we did!  It was so worth it!

I got my recipe from Frugal Girls and it only uses 3 ingredients.  

1) Arm & Hammer Washing Soda ($3) 

2) Borax ($3)

3) Fel- Naptha Bar of Soap ($1)

You can get about 12 gallons from the Washing soda, about 18 gallons from the Borax, and 6 gallons from the bar of soap.  That makes each gallon of detergent roughly $0.50!  Yes you read that right!  My washing detergent only costs $0.50 per gallon!  It works great and our clothes feel just as clean as the stuff we were paying a lot more for.  It only takes about 20 minutes to mix it up so it isn't time consuming either!  I highly recommend it! 

Basically you grate off 1/3 a bar of the soap and mix it in with 6 cups of water and melt the soap into the water.  Mix in the borax and washing soda (1/2 cup of each) and stir in until dissolved.  Remove from heat and add 4 more cups of water and then pour into a large bucket to finish mixing.  Then add 6 more cups plus 1 gallon of water (12 cups) and mix well.  Then pour into containers (we use old detergent bottles we already had) and let it sit overnight.  You just use a cap full for each load! 

We also use the make your own fabric softener recipe from Frugal Girls too!  This is super easy and works just as great as the more expensive ones.  It only has 2 ingredients that you have to buy.  

1) vinegar - white distilled  (3 cups) 

2) conditioner (yes the hair kind)- I use suave as it smells the best and they have a lot of different scents, Oh and its cheap! (2 cups)

Just mix up the both those with 6 cups of water and heat until mixed well. Store in old containers and use a cap full for each load.  This fills up one Snuggle bottle and half of another one.  So while this doesn't have as much cost savings the laundry detergent it is cheaper than most of the other name brand softeners and I love it!  

We also use dollar store fabric sheets cut in half.  You get 50 for $1 and cut in half is only a penny a load!  

There are lots of great ways you can save money by just making things yourself!