Laundry Adventures

My great laundry detergent adventure began with a trip to the grocery store. I needed Fels Naptha soap, Arm & Hammer Washing Soda and 20 Mule Team Borax. The only grocery store in Bluffton had all of it so it can't be very difficult to find.

Here's my cost analysis:
The box of Arm & Hammer Washing Soda cost $2.59. One box will yield seven batches of detergent.

The 20 Mule Team Borax was $3.69. To make seven batches you will only need half a box. This brings the cost of the borax to $1.85.

Each bar of Fels Naptha soap was $1.29. Multiply this times seven bars and you have a cost of $9.03.

One cup will do a load of laundry. Each recipe yields about 4 gallons, so you get 64 loads of clean laundry. Multiply that by seven batches and you get 448 loads of laundry for $13.47. That's a cost per load of 4 cents.

Tide Ultra Liquid comes in a bottle that will do 32 loads. You would need 14 bottles to do the same amount of laundry. The price per bottle is $11.92 so total cost would be $166.88. That makes a cost per load of 37.25 cents.

If you wash one load of laundry a day, the homemade detergent will cost $14.60 per year. Tide would come to $135.96 per year. Thus, a total savings of $121.36 per year would come with the homemade detergent.

PROS
Cost
It's fun to make something yourself. You get to feel smart and thrifty at the same time.
The homemade detergent is FAR more eco-friendly than its commercial counterparts. There are no phosphates in this detergent. Commercial detergents also contain petroleum based ingredients. The homemade does not.
You can use whatever bar of soap you have on hand. Fels Naptha is just good at getting stains out of textiles.
I've done two loads of laundry with the new stuff and I think the laundry is cleaner and much brighter.
It stores well.
I'm not throwing 14 big plastic Tide bottles into the landfill every year.

CONS
Storage. Four gallons at a time is a lot if you have a small space for your laundry. However, it can be poured into other containers.
Time. I'm not sure this is a con because it only takes about 15 minutes from start to finish. Probably shorter time than driving to the store and standing in line.
Scent. I'm a big one for things smelling "clean." This doesn't really have the detergent smell that I'm used to. The Fels Naptha smells kind of lemony. I added orange essential oil so now it smells citrusy.
The "texture" of the homemade soap is kind of strange. It turns from a liquid to a semi-solid, gelatinous mass as it sits all night. I think if I stirred it again really well i could pour rather than scoop it.

All in all I think I like homemade laundry soap. It does everything that commercial detergents do. And frankly – $121 will pay 4 months worth of electric bills!!!