Friday, November 18, 2011

Free Recipe Friday. . . It's Laundry Day!


Welcome back to Free Recipe Friday boys and girls!
Today we are going to do something thrifty - my favorite!
We are going to make detergent!!!!
I know what you are thinking, 'that is ridiculous - I can go buy some for $10'...
and I will say...'true, yes you can!'....BUTTTTTTTTTTTTT...
this little, easy, schmeazy recipe costs about half of that!
The estimated cost is $6 for 576 loads!
(depending on soap used and amount used per load---
I don't get near that - but 2 gallons DOES last me 4 weeks or more---
still haven't grasped that it doesn't take very much!)
I'd say that is prettttyyyyy thrifty!

INGREDIENTS/SUPPLIES
(taken from 'Why Not Sew' blog found on Pinterest!)

1 bar of soap (any kind you want)
1 cup of Borax (you can find on the detergent aisle at most stores)
1 cup of washing soda (you can find on the detergent aisle at most stores)
a big pot ( that holds more than 2 gallons)
a grater
a funnel
a long spoon
2 empty gallon jugs/containers

*I use these utensils for detergent making only*


WHAT TO DO
Grate your bar of soap into your big pot.


Fill one gallon jug and pour water into pot with grated soap.
Cook until the grated soap dissolves.
(be patient, this takes a little while - just keep checking and stirring)
Add the borax and washing soda.
Bring to a slow boil - it will begin to coagulate.


Turn off the heat and add 1 gallon of cold water.  Stir well.
Pour 1 gallon of detergent into each jug.
It will thicken as it cools - so if the first batch is too thick,
please don't throw it out...just shake it well before using
and it will all loosen up a bit.
If you'd like it to be a bit thinner for the next try,
use only 1/2 of a grated bar of soap.


You now have about 2 gallons of liquid clothes detergent!
The blog recommends using 1/2 cup per load.
If you know me at all, you know that I rarely measure things...
therefore, I would say that I use between 1/2 and 1 cup! :)

"This won't make many, if any, suds. Suds don't equal clean.
It took a while to get that into my head.
This detergent cleans wonderfully!"

This detergent is surprisingly much thicker than store bought.
And has little to no smell at all.
At first that bugged me, then I realized that we do not need
the extra dyes and perfumes in detergent anyway!
So, it's a win, win!


This would make great little Christmas gifts -
poured up in little jars with homemade tags!
Have a scrubby dubby weekend!










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