{If you can, please scroll all the way to the bottom to read a little “p.s.” about this post from me, okay? Thanks!}
You guys.
This laundry powder (aka detergent, but that was obvious, right?) is soooo easy to make. When I say 5 minutes, I literally mean 5 minutes from the time it takes to get the ingredients together, measure them, and put them into your jar. I timed myself. Seriously!
I went to a seminar in the spring at a local health food co-op about how to make your own laundry soap. The presenter used 3 ingredients – Dr. Brommer’s Soap, Washing Soda, and Baking Soda. I tried it that way at home, and it turned out great. I used the almond scent (my fave!) and it smelled deeeelish.
Except….Dr. Brommer’s bar soap, while awesome, is $3.99 a bar. Plus you still have to buy the other two ingredients. I’m sorry, I love our planet tons, but if I can easily get regular old detergent for $1.99 on sale at the grocery store, the price is going to win out for my family.
Enter…Ivory soap. This is the soap I used growing up, and we still use it in our house now. It regularly goes on sale at my local grocery stores, it’s super cheap, PLUS there are frequently coupons for it in the paper. I’ve gotten it for free or close to free many times before. It’s unscented and super mild, so I knew it would be safe for my kids’ clothes.
And it works great!
Here’s how you do it:
First, grate your soap. Seriously, this took me less than 2 minutes. I timed myself. Watch a YouTube video while you do it if you really need some incentive.
Just make sure if you leave it on the counter nobody in your house mistakes it for shredded coconut. lol
Then, measure your baking soda and washing soda (you’ll need 1/2 C of each).
Add your baking and washing soda mixture to your shredded soap. I like to dump everything into a gallon-size ziploc to mix it all in and shake it around.
Then pour it all into a jar (or you could totally just leave it in the bag, if you prefer!). I like to keep mine in a mason jar. I have a thing for those vintage zinc lids!
That’s IT! You’re finished! And you may or may not feel very accomplished and a little like Laura Ingalls. Or maybe that’s just me. lol
Here’s the “technical” recipe:
1 bar of Ivory soap, grated
1/2 C of washing soda
1/2 C of baking soda
Add 1 T to a full load of laundry (modify more or less for smaller loads or heavily soiled loads). **I doubled the recipe for myself, so your mason jar will not be as full as mine if you follow this recipe as-is.*
Helpful hints:
- I like to start my washer and then sprinkle in the powder as the water starts, in order to help it dissolve a little. Then I add my clothes.
- I wash all of my kids’ clothes and some of my clothes on gentle cycle. Occasionally on gentle cycle I will notice a flake or two here and there of Ivory that hasn’t dissolved after the cycle has completed. Just flick it off – no biggie!
- I continue to use Shout as spot treatment for stains (I’ve always done that). As long as I do that for tough stains like food from my kids, this detergent woks just as well as any other detergent I’ve tried! I made sure to test it thoroughly before sharing with all of you. :)
So, there you go! A super cheap, clean, much-more-environmentally-friendly method of cleaning your clothes. If you try it be sure and let me know how it works for you! :)
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Okay, so on to my little “p.s.” You might notice that every so often I’m going to have pictures up on my blog that have text on them. Aka “The Pinterest-Worthy Pictures.” Unless you’ve been off Pinterest for a while, you’re probably well aware that the site is FULL of pictures like this. It’s a little obnoxious, I’ll admit it. And sometimes super annoying. (Aka a blogger I really like once had a picture of her son’s face and text around him saying something like, “How to talk to your kids about s-x.” Really?! You want that picture of your son with those words going around the internet? So yes, people take it a little far. I will 100% agree with that.
BUT. This blog makes my family a {small!} amount of side income, thanks to the ads on the side. I am soooo grateful to God for allowing this little bit of money to come in to help us out as a one-income household. So I figured why fight Pinterest – just embrace it. Kinda like pointed-toe shoes in college. I swore I would never own a pair because they looked like witch shoes, but lo and behold I caved and my short little legs had never looked longer or better. I ended up with multiple pairs. But I digress. haha!
Anyway, these Made-for-Pinterest photos aren’t going away, so I’m going with it. I’m trying out posts here and there to see how they do in the Pinterest world. So if you see one from me every now and then, you have every right in the world to roll your eyes and refuse to click through. Or you can {bless your little heart} use the “Pin-It” button that hovers over my pictures, and bring it to the big wide world of Pinterest. But just know that I’m just a stay-at-home mom of two trying to make a few extra dollars for my family and trying my hardest NOT to annoy anyone in the process. Really. :)
Okay, I hope that all made sense! Thanks for sticking with me! :)
