Laundry Day

OK, who am I kidding. EVERY day is laundry day around here. With 3 kids and 3 dogs I almost constantly have a load of laundry in the washer.
I always thought of it as a necessary evil when I would spend $30 (or more) on a big bottle of Tide. I now realize that most of that money went toward colors, dyes and advertising. The homemade stuff works just fine for me.

I read Gail over at the Grocery Cart Challenge, and she has a great tutorial on how to make homemade laundry soap. I can't find the Fels Naptha bar soap around here, I use Zote, and it works well. I fill old, plastic laundry bottles with my soap concoction. When it's time to use it, I shake the bottle a little and use it as I would any other laundry detergent. Because I shake it, I've never had any problem with the soap gelling up and being difficult to use as I have read in other posts around the blogsphere.
This soap works great in my front-loading washer as well.

If you are intimidated about making your own laundry detergent, don't be. The initial investment is less than a single bottle of store-bought detergent. It takes just minutes to whip up a batch. No special tools are needed (I don't even use a food processor to chop the bar soap, I chop by hand).
Borax and Zote can be found easily at most grocery stores and WalMart. The washing soda I found at Albertson's. Most stores around here will order something if it is requested, so try that route if you can't find an ingredient.

By request from my family, I still use regular Downy (although a small amount). I also use Mrs. Stewart's bluing in my white loads. I think the bottle of bluing may last me for the rest of my life. Not bad for a few bucks.

Here are the ingredients, and the costs associated with them:

Borax- Around $3.50 for a large box. enough for over a dozen batches (good for soap and many other uses around the house, including flubber)

Washing Soda- $3.50- enough for over a dozen batches

Zote- $1, enough for 3 batches

Each batch is enough for 64 loads of laundry and costs less than a dollar.
Now I know that I will be making my own laundry soap from now on.