Day 3: Still no spending.
In my introduction to The Dollar Diet blog in last Sunday's Work & Money section, I mentioned that I make my own foaming hand soap and laundry detergent as a way to stretch my $50-a-week grocery budget.
I have a feeling I lost some readers right then and there. Too much trouble. Or just too weird.
But several of you emailed and posted on the blog asking for instructions so I'm posting both my recipes below, along with some number-crunching.
For those of you still a little skeptical, give it a try. If you have kids, you could even turn them into kitchen science experiments. What I like best is being able to spend so much more of our grocery budget on food.I mean, who wouldn't prefer to buy a nice piece of meat or fish for the grill rather than a jug of laundry detergent?
Just so you know, I didn't dream up these recipes on my own. Recipes abound on the Internet. I'm not sure where all the concoctions originated, but the laundry detergent recipe I ended up using is one that's also used by the Duggar family of reality TV fame. You know, the folks with 19 kids? I figured if it's good enough for their brood it's good enough for my family of three with the occasional giant laundry bag lugged home by our son away at college.
Foaming Hand Soap Recipe
1 1/2 Tablespoons liquid hand soap
warm tap water
Put 1 1/2 Tablespoons liquid hand soap in an empty foaming soap container
Add warm tap water, leaving enough room to shake. Replace pump lid and shake. Pump once or twice to prime. That’s it.
Note: The recipes I referenced called for anywhere from 1 to 3 tablespoons of liquid hand soap, depending on how thick you want the foam to be.
The budget breakdown: A 64-oz. jug of anti-bacterial hand soap can easily be found for about $5. That one jug, which would refill just eight standard hand pumps, will make an astounding 85 bottles of foaming hand soap. That's a deal. (Your only other start-up cost is a foaming soap container. I bought Dial foaming soap at the grocery, using a coupon, of course. Once the containers were empty, I began making my own.)
Homemade Laundry Detergent
4 cups hot tap water
1 cup Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda***
1/2 cup 20 Mule Team Borax
1 bar Fels-Naptha soap
Grate the bar of Fels-Naptha soap and add to a saucepan filled with 4 cups water. Stir continually over medium-low heat until soap is melted.
Fill a five-gallon bucket half full of hot tap water. Add melted soap, washing soda and Borax. Stir well until all powder is dissolved. Fill bucket to top with more hot water. Stir, cover and let sit overnight to thicken.
The following day, stir mixture, which will gel. Fill empty laundry detergent jugs half full with soap mixture, then fill the rest of the way with water.
Shake before each use. Use 5/8 cup for top-loading machines and 1/4 cup for front-loaders.
The budget breakdown: This recipe makes 10 gallons of laundry detergent. If you use a top-load machine, you will be able to wash 180 loads, using 5/8 cup detergent. If you have a front-loading machine, as I do, this one recipe will wash a whopping 640 loads of laundry, using just 1/4 cup per load. Your total cost: about $7.
Notes: If you're like me, you might be scratching your head over the ingredients list. I had a vague recollection from childhood of a mule team commercial but had never actually noticed it at my grocery or purchased it. The other two ingredients I had no clue even existed. I found all three in the laundry section at Harris Teeter. You just have to look closely. These are products from a mostly bygone era.
The Fels-Naptha soap, a 5.5-oz bar is wrapped in paper, and costs $1.39. The Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda (not be be confused with A&H baking soda***) is in a cardboard box and costs $2.95 for 55 ounces. And the Borax, which also comes in a cardboard box, runs $4.75 for 76 ounces. Except for additional bars of Fels-Naptha, I'm don't think I'll have to purchase laundry detergent ingredients until I'm well into my 70s.
As for the 5-gallon bucket, I highly recommend one of those giant white industrial drums with a lid. I' suppose you could probably buy one but I was way too cheap for that. I asked for one on freecycle and within a day or two, several folks had offered me one. I later learned that restaurants receive ingredients in these buckets and are often happy to pass them along rather than throw them out.
Comments
Ingredients
Tue, 06/19/2012 - 11:47 — sharonmunoz20003Amy,
I attend to your past class in Apex and it was great, thanks for ALL the tips.
I like to know where to buy this ingredients?
*Mule Team Borax
*bar Fels-Naptha soap
Thanks again!
I use the empty Arizona ice tea gallon
Mon, 02/07/2011 - 20:54 — mfanbottles that my son drinks all the time. I use this recipe also. You can also make a powdered version, but I like the liquid better. Instead of stirring it by hand, I use the cordless drill with an old paint stirrer attachment on it . So much easier. Quicker.
This takes no time to make in my opinion and it works great. I did the math and figured that it lasts at least 6 months for my family of 3. So for the $ 7 bucks for 6 months it is well worth the 'time' invested.
Also, if you keep a bar of the fels-naptha by the machine and have a stain- wet the bar and rub it on the stain before laundering it and the stain will be gone.
Love the image of you with
Tue, 02/08/2011 - 10:21 — AmyDunn (author)Love the image of you with the cordless drill!
Thanks for writing and I hope you will follow along the rest of the month.
Does this work for Front Loader Washing Machines?
Sun, 02/06/2011 - 11:25 — junelynnHi Amy,
I saw your article in the Charlotte Observer and I went to your web site. I wonder about the home made detergent and if it's usable for Front Loading Washers.
Thanks, June in Kannapolis
Hi June.......Thanks for
Sun, 02/06/2011 - 12:15 — AmyDunn (author)Hi June.......Thanks for reading.
I have a front-loader (love it, btw) and have had no issues with my homemade detergent. I think it's all in the amount you use. Just 1/4 cup for front-loaders.
Just so you know...
Sat, 02/05/2011 - 02:54 — Oxymoron02If you want a 5 gallon bucket and if you don't want to ask on Freecycle or go to Lowes and pay an arm and a leg for one .... Firehouse Subs sells their empty pickle buckets for, if memory serves, $2 each. Not sure if they come with lids since my primary interest in them has been as cheap tomato pots.
Question about the Fels-naptha soap.... we have sensitve skin and have to stay dye and perfume free. I also have a newborn. Is it dye and perfume free? Fairly gentle once diluted?
Good to know
Sat, 02/05/2011 - 20:58 — AmyDunn (author)Wow. Two bucks for a 5-gallon bucket is a great deal. I had no idea Firehouse Subs had them.
As for your other question, I don't honestly know whether the Fels-Naptha would be gentle enough for sensitive skin. Anybody out there have any experience with that?
I did, however, find an ingredients list for Fels-Naptha on its website:
Soap (sodium tallowate*, sodium cocoate* (or) sodium palmate kernelate*, and sodium palmate*), water, talc, cocnut acid*, palm acid*, tallow acid*, PEG-6 methyl ether, glycerin, sorbitol, sodium chloride, pentasodium pentetate and/or tetrasodium etidronate, titatium dioxide, fragrance, Acid Orange (CI 20170), Acid yellow 73 (ci43350)
Thanks!!
Fri, 02/04/2011 - 23:51 — selenabhThanks for posting the recipes!! I look forward to trying them! You can also find detergent empties at recycling centers...I've been collecting a bunch for an art class. Maybe we'll have some left over!
SRSLY?!!
Fri, 02/04/2011 - 07:40 — Yasminahwho the eff has time for this when detergent is not that expensive?!! These aren't pioneer days. Ridiculous.
where...
Fri, 02/04/2011 - 00:22 — mathorntonWhere do you get the empty laundry detergent bottles? Guessing you just save the ones you already have???
Any idea if the ingredients are available at Rite Aid? I have a TON of UPs I can spend there for free. ;)
Empty detergent bottles
Fri, 02/04/2011 - 17:33 — AmyDunn (author)Yep. I saved up some empty laundry detergent bottles and put the word out to friends and family for their empties. That way I can fill up six or eight at once and not fret over bottles that my college boy forgets to return for a refill!
Don't know if RiteAid carries any of the ingredients but it would definitely be worth a look with a bunch of UPs to use up. Good luck! And let us know on the blog if you try it.