I think its been about a year ago now, that I decided to try making my own laundry soap. Really for no other reason,except it was supposed to be cheaper then buying it at the store. For anyone who knows me well, I have to try anything that is cheaper. I bought all the materials I needed and made my first batch. It was pretty simple to make, probably taking me about 20 mins from start to finish, and I ended up with a 5 gal bucket full of the stuff.
The first batch lasted at least 3 months (with a family of 5) and I was soon onto making my next batch.It seemed to be getting our clothes clean, and I loved the fact that chocolate ice cream on my sons shirt was no match for its cleaning ability. It didn't have a spectacular smell, but it did have a fantastic price of about .25 cents a gallon. Soon I was telling everyone in the family that they should switch to making there own soap.
Then about 5 months ago, I was couponing, and found that I could pick up some other types of laundry detergent for a good price. So I decided to stop taking the extra time to make my own, and chose to go with store bought detergent once again. During the next month or so, we used a variety of different detergents, from purex to tide. I liked the fact that most came in those easy to use Pods. Dropping one into my wash seemed very convenient.
However I soon noticed that my clothes, especially my boys clothes were not coming out as clean. I was having to spray them and rewash alot of stuff. My husband work clothes were also showing more stains then normal. Grass stains and food stains, grease and grime from the grain mill used to be no match for the homemade stuff. I finished what store bought soap I had left and decided to go back to making my homemade detergent. I have to say we all noticed a difference right away. Even my husband noticed that his work clothes looked cleaner then they had in the past few weeks.
Sometimes when opting out for the cheaper version of something you end up spending more or "getting what you paid for". In some cases I have regretted being so thrifty and going the cheaper route like with paper towels. In the case of homemade laundry soap vs store bought to save money, homemade soap wins hands down.
I would encourage anyone to give it a try. I got the recipe from a friend who got it off the Duggars website which you will find here: http://www.duggarfamily.com/content/duggar_recipes/30455/Homemade%20Liquid%20Laundry%20Soap-%20Front%20or%20top%20load%20machine-%20best%20value
I have made some changes to the directions, I usually use more then 4 cups of water to melt down the soap. I tend to just fill the saucepan with water it helps the soap dissolve faster. I also wanted to add a little fragrance to my soap. To do this; add a container or Downy Unstoppables ( love this product) when mixing all the ingredients into the 5 gal bucket. ( I'm sure that you could use the purex crystals too.)
Go ahead give it a try.....
