Saturday, March 3, 2012

Miss Rae's Laundry Soap

I'm a little behind on my dinner blogging thanks to some personal items.  I promise to get it up very soon!  In the mean while, enjoy some laundry magic!

If you've been on Pinterest for more than 10 seconds - you've seen postings for making your own laundry soap.  It's been pinned about a lot but I really haven't seen many people post about doing it.  So here's a real review, from a real mom.   I have an average house with an inexpensive washer and dryer that does a good job.  Truthfully, I was worried about how my clothes would come out. I have a four year and a dirty boyfriend (mechanic work/construction in his free time) plus THREE dogs. Um...yes, I was worried

Here is what I currently use:

This is based on what I spent during my last shopping trip for these items in my area (Washington State).  I also calculated how much these products lasted for our home use.  Your totals may be a little different.

As you can see, I hit sales - used coupons and was spending about $0.62 a load.  I wasn't crazy about one product, they did the job and our clothes smell nice. 

I then chose to switch and bought everything to make my own laundry madness.  I didn't go shopping any where weird to find this, I went to Walmart and Costco (like Sam's Club southern friends).

Miss Rae's Laundry Soap
5 Gallon Bucket - to mix
1 Cheese Grater - for soap
1/3 bar of Fels Naptha Laundry Soap
1/2 cup Borax
1/2 cup Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda
Empty, Clean Plastic Container - for mix when done
Optional: Essential Oil

Step One: Cut your bar of Fels Naptha Soap into thirds and finely grate one third of it. Just use a cheese grater, I bought one from the dollar store to keep it seperate from my food one.  Save the leftover thirds because next time you feel like it's free stuff.

Step Two: Put grated soap in a pot with 6 cups of warm water and heat on low, stiring slowly until the soap melts. Don't let the soap boil!! This part takes maybe 1-2 minutes.

Step Three: Once all the soap is completely melted, slowly add washing soda and borax to your pot.  Stir until it is dissolved, the mix will feel thicker than water but not as thick as per say sour cream.  Remove from heat.

Step Four: Pour 4 cups of hot tap water into your 5 gallon bucket. Pour your soap mixture in the bucket and stir it up. Add a few drops of your oil if you choose.  I picked up some dollar store clean linen oil, smells nice.  If you don't want anything, the clothes will just smell fresh.

Step Five:  Add 22 cups of hot tap water this equates to 1 gallon plus six cups.  Stir as your adding and once all added slowly stir for a few more minutes and let it sit overnight.
Step Six:  When you arise your house will smell wonderful.  The soap may look runny, gelled, or clumpy. This is all normal!  I took my whisk and broke down all the clumps in mine and made sure it was all evenly mixed.  It looked like a creamy ivory colored soap.  So succsess right?  I funneled the mix into a cleaned out plastic container and got to washing.

What's it going to cost?
Fels Naptha Laundry Soap $0.62
Borax $6.49
Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda $4.52
Total: $11.63

I think I will get about 65 loads per batch.  I know I will get three batches without having to buy one another Fels bar.  So this works out to about $0.07 per load for the first three batches.  After that it work out to $0.009 per load for the next 14 loads (buying just a few more Fels bars). 
THAT'S NOT EVEN A FULL PENNY PEOPLE!


How does it work?  It works better than the ECOs I was using all this time!  Our clothes smell wonderful, so clean! 

I can tell you now, I'm not going back and you can't make me either!

Enjoy and let me know how this works for you!


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