I Do Math & Give You A Recipe For Laundry Detergent

So, I've wanted to try this new fad—you know the one—the one where you make your own laundry soap, dish washer detergent, fabric softener etc. Well, I have to admit, when it comes to things like this my feelings are pretty consistent: when you go to the grocery store and buy the stuff that is already made, you’re paying for CONVENIENCE!!
And, I quite enjoy my convenience.  Thus, if the recipes for laundry soap or anything else called for grating soap, boiling it all together, pouring it several times, watching it cool for hours just to add more crap…I WOULD NEVER DO IT! No one has time for that, and if they do have that kind of time, they either have children to tend to, or spend their free time on pinterest which leaves no time for grating soap. Just sayin’.
That’s why I HAVE to share with you this recipe for homemade laundry soap, friends, honestly I wouldn’t lie to you.  This recipe is beyond easy, quick and there is no grating-soap-hard-work-slaving-over-the-hot-hot-stove-crap involved.

Also, I am going to break down the SERIOUS cheapness of this homemade laundry soap. I BLEW myself away realizing how much money I am going to save doing this.  The initial cost is more than what it would be to buy the laundry soap outright; however, the savings on the soap pays for all the ingredients involved. You’re going to pass out when you read this!


Ingredients
3TBS Borax
3TBS Washing Soda
2TBS Dish Soap

*PLEASE READ THE RECIPE I MADE A MISTAKE IN THIS PICTURE*


 

This is what you're going to need. MINUS the baking soda (SORRY!! I didn't want to retake the picture!!)

Start by adding 3TBSBorax & 3TBSWashing Soda to something that is either gallon-sized, has measuring lines(like my trusty bucket.)

Next add in 2TBS of dish soap

Add 4 cups boiling water to the mixture, let it all dissolve and allow it to cool.  Then finish adding COLD water to make a complete gallon.

After you've added enough water put the mixture in a container and there you go!

Add about 1/2 to 1 cup of detergent to your laundry depending on load size.

THE MATH

Now, I broke down everything that I bought for the recipe.  First I had to take the amount that I bought and convert that into TBS and HOLY-BAD-AT-MATH-BATMAN that took me a good few minutes.
I will say this much, thank you to my 6^th grade math teacher for teaching my proportions, because at this website I found out that there are 32 TBS in 16oz, which then allowed me to set up a simple proportion to figure out the amount of TBS in say 55oz. (*YAY ME!*)

After that I figured out what the cost per TBS was in order to determine the cost per recipe. So add up all of the cost per recipes AND WHAT DO YOU GET?! 23 FREAKIN’ CENTS PER RECIPE!! 23!!  WOAH!  

Here’s the math-

Washing Soda- 110 TBS….$3.24 (.03x3TBS)  ((9 cents per recipe))

Borax- 152 TBS……$3.38  (.02x3TBS)       ((6 cents per recipe))

Dish Soap-48 TBS….$1.97 (.04x2TBS)     ((8 cents per recipe))

                                                                    23 cents per recipe!!

Ok, now just for kicks and giggles, let’s figure out how many loads of laundry you can do with one recipe.  Each Recipe Makes 1 Gallon of Soap and you use 1 cup of detergent per load.

16 cups in a gallon= 16 Loads of laundry for 23 cents!!! (Yay for easy math.)

Compare that to laundry soap at the grocery store—My husband bought a bottle of OFF BRAND (the cheapest off brand, because TRUST me that man can spend 15 minutes looking at the same isle of stuff crunching numbers to make sure we buy the cheapest thing we can!) laundry soap at the DOLLAR STORE (for goodness sakes) and if the dollar store can’t beat the price of the homemade soap, no one can. 

The price of that bottle was $2.75 for 33 loads, which means you can do 16 loads of laundry for $1.28. 

Alright, let’s sum this all up and STOP DOING MATH FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THINGS HOLY!

Homemade Laundry Soap	Store-Bought Laundry Soap
$.23 cents for 16 loads	$1.28 for 16 loads

SAVINGS: $1.05 per 16 loads.

I apologize for the weird numbers (16 loads) but think about it this way: If you have a family it is EASY for you to do 16 loads of laundry a week. That is a savings of $1.05 a week, which is HUGE. J 

Ok, my brain hurts. I’ve seriously got to stop thinking about numbers.  In the mean time, enjoy your CHEAP laundry soap and perhaps collect the extra money you’re going to save using this soap, make a pile of it and ROLL in all your savings like a pile of freshly raked fall leaves.

Thanks for reading another post! J