Laundry soap for thirty cents a gallon - DIY like the Duggars
I'd wanted to try this recipe for homemade laundry soap for a long time after first seeing it featured on the show "17 Kids and Counting" featuring the Duggar family. It also appears in her book titled, "20 and Counting!"
The recipe is available on several websites. I prefer this one Laundry Soap Recipe because she gets right to the recipe without a lot of advertising, storytelling or begging readers to join or subscribe before reading the actual article.
I cut the recipe in half simply because it claims to make 10 gallons and I am raising 9 kids in a 1400 square foot house - so, while I would love to have 10 gallons of laundry soap on hand, we just don't have the storage space.
I followed the directions and ended up with 5 gallons of laundry soap. I transferred it into old laundry soap containers I had been saving for this purpose and have been using it exclusively for about 3 weeks now. We do several loads of laundry every day, including a load of cloth diapers every other day.
I find it works just as well as any commercial laundry soap I've used.
It does need to be shaken or stirred for each use as it does settle. But, we just shake up the jug before opening the tap and haven't had any problems.
I am most excited about the cost savings with this recipe though. My daughter recently bought a one gallon jug of laundry soap to take to her dorm at school. It cost her $3 at Dollar General. The Dollar Tree also carries a one gallon container of laundry soap that works fine, so I thought these prices would be hard to beat.
I calculated our cost to be $1.50 for the whole batch. That is $1.50 for 5 gallons or thirty cents a gallon. Our local grocer carries Fels Naptha bars for a little over a $1 each and we bought the Borax and Super Washing Soda in bulk boxes from Amazon.
I also use these last two items to make a powdered dishwashing detergent that I've used for years, and we used the Borax to make slime. You can see that here if you are looking for other uses for the ingredients since you get the best price on the bulk boxes, but won't use all of it for the laundry soap recipe.
If you're a Vacation Education subscriber, and you've read this far, you may be wondering how this post fits our purpose here. Well, I hope that you will share this information with your children and have them help you make this recipe. They will be excited to mix and stir and see the chemical reactions that take place as the process goes along.
It is more than just a science lesson though, it is a lesson in Home Economics. If I told you that you could save $100 per month by using cloth diapers instead of disposable, would you try it? If I told you that you could pay just thirty cents a gallon for laundry soap, you would at least check out my theory since you are still here reading. Share this idea with your children - help them think creatively about how they spend their money and what things they can do for themselves instead of paying others to do it for them.
Those savings can go right into your vacation fund!
The recipe is available on several websites. I prefer this one Laundry Soap Recipe because she gets right to the recipe without a lot of advertising, storytelling or begging readers to join or subscribe before reading the actual article.
I cut the recipe in half simply because it claims to make 10 gallons and I am raising 9 kids in a 1400 square foot house - so, while I would love to have 10 gallons of laundry soap on hand, we just don't have the storage space.
I followed the directions and ended up with 5 gallons of laundry soap. I transferred it into old laundry soap containers I had been saving for this purpose and have been using it exclusively for about 3 weeks now. We do several loads of laundry every day, including a load of cloth diapers every other day.
I find it works just as well as any commercial laundry soap I've used.
It does need to be shaken or stirred for each use as it does settle. But, we just shake up the jug before opening the tap and haven't had any problems.
I am most excited about the cost savings with this recipe though. My daughter recently bought a one gallon jug of laundry soap to take to her dorm at school. It cost her $3 at Dollar General. The Dollar Tree also carries a one gallon container of laundry soap that works fine, so I thought these prices would be hard to beat.
I calculated our cost to be $1.50 for the whole batch. That is $1.50 for 5 gallons or thirty cents a gallon. Our local grocer carries Fels Naptha bars for a little over a $1 each and we bought the Borax and Super Washing Soda in bulk boxes from Amazon.
I also use these last two items to make a powdered dishwashing detergent that I've used for years, and we used the Borax to make slime. You can see that here if you are looking for other uses for the ingredients since you get the best price on the bulk boxes, but won't use all of it for the laundry soap recipe.
If you're a Vacation Education subscriber, and you've read this far, you may be wondering how this post fits our purpose here. Well, I hope that you will share this information with your children and have them help you make this recipe. They will be excited to mix and stir and see the chemical reactions that take place as the process goes along.
It is more than just a science lesson though, it is a lesson in Home Economics. If I told you that you could save $100 per month by using cloth diapers instead of disposable, would you try it? If I told you that you could pay just thirty cents a gallon for laundry soap, you would at least check out my theory since you are still here reading. Share this idea with your children - help them think creatively about how they spend their money and what things they can do for themselves instead of paying others to do it for them.
Those savings can go right into your vacation fund!
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