10 Gals of Homemade Detergent for $1.78 or LESS!

I am NOT confident in my homemade skills, but thought I'd learn since my sweet neighbor, Amber, was making a batch of homemade laundry detergent! Amber got the recipe from the Duggar website (she's originally from their hometown of Springdale, Arkansas!)

Here are the ingredients...

• Borax ($2.89) 1 box = 10 batches (use 1/2 cup)
• Arm & Hammer Super Washing Powder ($2.77) 1 box= 7 batches (use just 1 cup)
• 1 bar of Fels-Naptha soap ($0.97) (you can use different brands of soap but this one is good on stains!)
• a 5 gal bucket (if you don't have one, you can get one at Lowe's or Wal-mart for $3.50, but PLEASE ask around 1st!)

Amber got these items at Wal-mart. I had NEVER heard of these items before!

$1.78 for 10 gallons or 640 loads! That's enough for 1 load of laundry a day for almost 2 years!! WOW! And that is the price WITHOUT coupons!

Here's what you do!

1. Grate the bar of soap into a pan
2. Fill the pan with water and cook the soap until it melts
3. Fill the bucket half way with hot tap water
4. Mix in melted soap, 1/2 cup Borax, and 1 cup Arm & Hammer and stir until dissolved
5. Add water til the bucket is full. Let the bucket sit overnight so it can "gel."

This recipe makes enough liquid detergent for  640 loads in a front loading machine using 1/4 cup. Check the Duggar site for top loading recipes and powder recipes! They suggest saving your old detergent bottles for easier use. You fill your bottle half full, then fill the rest of the bottle with water. That is how you get 10 gals from your 5 gallon bucket!

We were really wanting to wash clothes immediately to see how well it worked! Amber used it first and said it cleaned well and her clothes smelled fine. Awesome.

I suggest you split the cost with friends! Everyone can buy their favorite soap and then up to 7 friends can split the borax and Arm &Hammer! OR you could make a practical gift for friends and family!

We also made fabric softener!

Ingredients....

• 1 bottle of your favorite liquid softener (we used snuggle) (4.89) *buy on sale or with coupon!
• a sponge (.84)
• water

Here's what you do!

1. Pour the entire bottle of softener into a bucket
2. Fill the bottle with water twice and pour into bucket (slowly bc it bubbles up)
3. Cut the sponge in half and put in bucket
4. Wring out 1 sponge and throw in the dryer with your clothes!

I used the softener because I actually had a load ready to go in the dryer! It smelled really good as clothes were drying and perfumed the house a little as well! It wasn't overpowering, just a nice fresh scent! AND....NO STATIC! Not sure on how long it will last because you wring out the sponge...seems like at least a year!

I dare you to make some! It was fun and I'm set with detergent for 2 years! Yay!