Before I started making my own laundry soap, I used Tide. Tide only. Because it smelled nice, and it got nice and sudsy when I filled my washing machine with water and clothes. Tide made my house smell nice. It even smelled nice outside around my dryer vent. It's expensive though. I think we were spending somewhere in the neighborhood of $9 per small bottle about 4 times a month or about $17 if I bought the big one, and I needed about one and a half of those per month. So about $30 per month on laundry soap. That's about $360 per year I was spending just on detergents for me to keep our clothes clean.
A couple of summers ago when my husband and I were starting the conversation about how we could make it financially possible for me to stay home with our kids, this expense came to my mind. I had seen a couple of crazy people on Pinterest who were making their own detergents like one that was a powder. The particular one that I liked was interesting. It said it was about $17 to make a batch, so I decided to give it a shot. (I would provide the link, but it has since been taken down. Thankfully, I wrote down the recipe.) Basically, you grind up some Zote or Fels Naptha, mix it with Borax, Oxiclean, Washing Soda, Baking Soda, and Purex Crystals, and you've got soap. One full batch takes about 15 minutes to make and about $17 in supplies, and it lasted me about SIX months! When I switched to using that soap, I saved our family about $326 per year!
Things I like about powdered, homemade laundry soap:
Cost
Fragrance is based on Purex Crystals
Ingredients are available at my local hardware
Easy storage (I use my Mega That's a Bowl from Tupperware)
Uses only about one tablespoon per load
A few months ago, I saw some Pins where some frugal folks were making their own liquid soap too, and I was curious how that worked. I got a recipe, tried it, and I liked it just as well. My husband doesn't like it as much as the powder, so I think I am going to keep a batch of both on hand.
Things that I like about liquid, homemade laundry soap:
Cost
Fragrance can be any essential oil you like (I used wild orange)
Ingredients are basically the same as the powdered version
Storage is in recycled gallon jugs from milk or other liquids
Uses about the same amount as store-bought liquid soap
You have to decide for yourself about your laundry needs, but I want you to know that I have clean clothes and an extra $300+ per year in my pocket that doesn't go to some big name company.
Link to the Liquid Laundry Soap recipe that I used: Liquid Laundry Soap
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