The Laundry Pile That Never Ends!
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I Love my Rae Dunn laundry hamper I purchased on Amazon!
Do you ever wish the Laundry fairy was real. I don’t mind throwing a load of laundry in the washer but then you have to put it in the dryer and fold and put away. Over and over and over again for soooo many years. I am so thankful as my kids get older they are able to do some of their own laundry which has been super helpful.
Purchasing laundry soap can get expensive over time. Average price is between $10-15 a bottle depending on the brand. If you go through a bottle every two months (about 5 loads a week) that can add up to between $60-90 a year. Then you add in fabric softener which is about $5-10 a bottle and lasts about 3 months at $20-40 a year and then dryer sheets at $5-10 a box which for me last about 2.5 months as I use 2 sheets per load (I love my clothes to smell good), that adds up to $25-50 a year. That is a lot of extra money that I would rather spend on food (or Starbucks) or travel. That’s $105-180 a year! It may not seem like a lot but if you consider after 10 years that is $1050-1800!! After 50 years that is $5250-9000!!! You get the point, that adds up to be a lot of money!!!!
I figured out a way to save lots of money on laundry soap every year. In fact after the initial investment of about $15-25 I now only spend about $8 a year on laundry soap alone. Yes, you read that right, $8 a year!!!
If I save this much on laundry soap I feel I can splurge on fabric softener. I had been using Downy liquid fabric softener that I add to my washer’s dispenser but it is not producing a clean smell anymore. Recently we have been using Downy Unstopables and we absolutely love them! Now I hate spending the price of $9.99 per bottle but omg, our clothes have been smelling so good!! Plus Amazon often has a coupon you can use with your purchase.
I saw on a TV reality show once where the family made their own laundry soap so I thought I would give it a try. Have you ever heard of the Duggar family?! They are the family with like 19 kids! With that large of a family I am sure they have a ton of laundry they do daily. I decided to look into making my own laundry soap and found the recipe on their blog.
The Duggar Family Homemade Laundry soap recipe is as follows:
4 cups hot water
1 Fels Naptha soap bar *
1 cup Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda *
1/2 cup Borax *
5 gallon bucket with lid
2 used but empty laundry soap containers
Grate the bar of soap into the water and heat it in a saucepan on a stovetop. Stir constantly over medium-low heat until the soap is melted.
Fill a 5 gallon bucket half full with hot tap water. Add melted soap, Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda, and Borax. Stir well and then fill the rest of the bucket with more hot tap water. Let sit overnight to set.
Fill 2 empty laundry soap containers half full with the laundry soap mixture, then fill the rest of the way with more tap water. Shake well before each use.
You may also add essential oils for added scent. This will make 10 gallons total. Head over to the Duggar blog for more details and the recipe. I love this laundry soap and have used it for about 14 years. I still use a stain remover product as needed.
Remember it costs me only $8 a year for the two bars of soap. That is a huge savings. Each batch of laundry soap lasts me about 6 months. Make sure you buy the ingredients exactly as stated in the recipe or it will not turn out correct.
*I added links to Amazon for the products used to make this soap. I recommend checking your local stores to see if you can get a cheaper price first.
I hope that you will try making this soap for your family. It saves us a lot of money and is super easy to make.
Enjoy the journey,
J
