I have been interested in making my own laundry detergent for about a while now, since one of my friends suggested trying it. I had to read up on it and collect all the materials and finally today I did it!
I decided to follow the Duggar's recipe with one exception, I used Dr. Bronner's Castile Soap instead of Fels Naphtha.
I planned to use Fels Naphtha and even ordered it from Amazon... but I checked the wrong address box and sent it to my old apartment. Since the address doesn't match my ID I could not pick it up from the post office... so silly.
During this little mix-up I happened to read a little about castile soap and have decided to use it instead and I had the soap returned to amazon.
Some reasons I am trying castile: I can pick it up from Whole Foods, it doesn't have the chemicals in it that are found in Fels Naphtha, & it's more eco-friendly. If it goes well and my laundry looks good then I will stick with it. If not I will switch to the trusty Fels Naphtha (because I am confident that if the Duggars use it for 19 kids then it must work).
Supplies:
- saucepan
- bucket
- something to stir with
- grater
- empty cleaned out laundry detergent containers
- measuring cups
Ingredients:
- 4 cups hot tap water
- Dr. Bonner's Pure Castile Soap (Unscented Baby Mild)
- 1 cup Arm & Hammer Washing Soda
- 1/2 cup Borax
I gathered them from alice.com, a thrift store, the basement, the pantry, whole foods, safeway & tj maxx.
The first step was to grate the soap & melt it in water on the stove in a saucepan:
Melting Soap (you have to stir continuously):
All melted:
Fill 5 gallon bucket halfway with hot tap water:
Make sure your baby isn't eating the fringe of the living room rug and pause for a baby photo op:
Then finally stir in the melted soap, washing soda & borax into the hot water until dissolved:
Last but not least, vacuum up any washing soda or borax that you spilled so your dog doesn't lick it up:
Now I just wait overnight for the stuff in the bucket to gel. After 24 hours I can pour my mix into containers and start using it.
Chemical Descriptions:
Something to consider of course when you try something new that includes mixing up white powdery substances is whether it is safe and easy to do at home. After trying it out, I think so!
Being a chemistry teacher, I decided to read the MSDS (Materials Safety Data Sheet) for the ingredients.
Arm & Hammer Washing Soda is sodium carbonate (a relative of sodium bicarbonate, baking soda, but definitely not the same thing!). Here are the highlights of MSDS:
- Stable
- Incompatible (should not be mixed) with strong acids, aluminum & iron (& others that are not relevant)
- It is an irritant to eyes & skin and if ingested or inhaled
- For "normal use" no special gear is needed (like masks, eye wear or gloves)
- Wash hands after use before eating
Borax is sodium borate.
- Slightly hazardous in case of skin contact (irritant), of eye contact (irritant), of ingestion, of
- inhalation.
- Stable
- Store in sealed container
Not so much a chemical, but info about Dr. Bronner's Castile Soap:
- biodegradable & vegetable-based
- coconut, palm, olive, jojoba (whatever that is) & hemp oils
- great for sensitive skin
- organic, fair trade & not animal tested
Cost Analysis:
I have read that you save 70% and that one batch does 180 loads and costs about $2.
Still I do the math for myself with my specific ingredients and supplies at the price I paid versus the detergent I generally buy. I tried to find as many supplies as I could around the house, others I had to purchase:
saucepan - (thrift store) $10.99
bucket - $0
something to stir with - $0
grater - $7.99
empty cleaned out laundry detergent containers - $0
measuring cups - $0
4 cups hot tap water
Dr. Bonner's Pure Castile Soap (Unscented Baby Mild) - $3.99
1 cup Arm & Hammer Washing Soda - $2.99 for 55 oz. though I paid shipping this time= $7
1/2 cup Borax - $3.99 for 76 oz.
Total for me to start = $33.96... seems a little outrageous for something that should save me money! so how long until I am saving??
My normal laundry detergent is Arm & Hammer Sensitive Skin. $1.99 with at Wegman's with a shopper's card. That is for 50 ounces or 32 loads.
$33.96/$1.99 = 17... I could purchase 17 containers of Arm & Hammer for this price.
I do 2 loads a day during the week, so 10 per week which means after 3 weeks I need a new container of detergent. Still it will take 51 weeks to spend $33. 1 year!
For comparison's sake... IF I normally bought Tide, which costs &7.99/32 loads, then it would take only 3 months to pay off. It would also be costing me around $140 per year for detergent.
With 1 batch of homemade detergent I get 180 loads or about 4.5 months. In 1 year I would need just under 3 batches.
For me personally it will take 1 year to payoff! I'm officially committed! But happily so because I am feeling good about controlling the ingredients in our detergent... my family tends to have very sensitive skin.
Just the ingredients per batch:
76oz box Borax = 9.5 cups
55 oz box Washing Soda = 6.875 cups
1 bar Castile Soap = $3.99
1/2 cup borax = $.21
1 cup washing soda = $.42
TOTAL = $4.62 for 1 batch = 180 loads
The Duggars website says it is about $2/batch... they probably buy Fels Naphtha in bulk.
In conclusion - it will cost me the same amount as it would to buy inexpensive detergent this year, about $33. Then next year it will cost me about $12 for the year.
Detergent Making Resources:
TipNut
Soap Making Fun
My empty detergent bottle is ready and waiting!
ReplyDeleteMary, I am so impressed w/your cost analysis skills!
ReplyDeleteI've been wanting to try this too...maybe I will.