Laundry Detergent Revisited

The average household spends close to $70 per year on laundry detergent. Our family spends less than $6 - PER YEAR!

I have used my homemade, super frugal, laundry detergent for the past 5 years. Apparently, in our household, we will only need to make it twice a year which means we are spending less than $6 PER YEAR on laundry detergent! None of us have been able to tell a difference in the cleanliness of the clothes so we are sold on this recipe!

Here it is:

4 Cups hot tap water
1 Bar Ivory soap
1 Cup Washing Soda
½ Cup Borax 20 Mule Team Powder (laundry aisle at Publix next to the previous item)
A 5 gallon bucket with lid
Saucepan
Empty laundry detergent container

Grate the bar of soap and add to saucepan with water. Stir continually over medium-low heat until soap dissolves.

Fill a 5 gallon bucket half full of hot tap water. Add soapy water, washing soda and Borax. Stir until dissolved.

Fill bucket to the top with more hot water. Stir, cover and let sit overnight.

Stir it up well (it will be "gloppy") and fill a used, clean, laundry soap dispenser half full with soap and then fill rest of way with water. Shake before each use. (it will gel)

Top Load Machine- 5/8 Cup per load (Approx. 180 loads)
Front Load Machines- ¼ Cup per load (Approx. 640 loads)

Even though you use a 5 gallon bucket, it makes 10 gallons because you fill the empty container half full of detergent and fill the rest of the way with water.
The washing soda and borax cost about $5 and I used only a fraction of each. Buckets are about $5 as well from Lowes and can be reused each time.