Home Made Laundry Detergent

This is a great way to save a TON of money over the period of a year.

Making your own laundry detergent takes only about 15 minutes, and it costs less than 10 cents per load! How much does your current store-bought laundry detergent cost per load?

To figure it out, divide the cost of the bottle of detergent by the number of loads. For example, the detergent I used to use cost $16 a bottle for 24 loads. That means that the average cost per load was $0.67. So, when I was doing one load per day, I was spending $244.55 on laundry detergent alone per year!! Wow, when I actually figure out the details, that was costing me a fortune!!

Now, say making your own laundry detergent only costs about $0.08 per load, that would cost $29.20 per year!! That is a yearly savings of $215.35!!

Have I convinced you yet to at least try making your own laundry detergent?!?

Here is the recipe that I use to make my own laundry detergent.

INGREDIENTS

water

1/2 cup washing soda

1/2 cup borax

1/3 bar of soap (I use Fels-Naptha - it cleans the best. The two most widely recommended brands are Fels-Naptha and Ivory because they are the least perfumed and are more natural)

METHOD

• Heat 6 cups of water almost to the point of boiling. Add the 1/3 bar of soap in grated form and stir until it is melted.


• Add the 1/2 cup borax and 1/2 cut washing soda and continue stirring until the powder is dissolved, remove from heat.


• Add 4 cups of water into a clean pail. Add the soap mixture and stir well.


• Add 3.79 litres plus 6 cups of cold water into your mixture and stir again.


• Transfer your mixture into a large plastic pail with a lid or into individual containers. Old, clean laundry detergent containers work well.


• Let the mixture sit at least 24 hours before using. It will gel over, but inconsistently.


• Give the laundry detergent a good stir before each use. Use 1/2 cup per wash load.


• For heavy stains, you can rub a little bit right into the stain before washing, and the stain should lift right out (that is why I use Fels-Naptha - I have an 18 month old boy who gets into everything!).


• If you like perfumed laundry, you can add a little essential oils to your detergent.

Using this method should take you no longer than 15 minutes to make. It may take a little longer at first, until you get used to making the detergent.

If you are expecting a lot of sudsing action, you will be disappointed. This detergent does not suds up like most traditional soaps, making it perfect for high efficient laundry machines as well as traditional ones.

Not only does making your own laundry detergent save you a TON of money, but it is also environmentally friendly. Think of all of the garbage that is not made. Also, the ingredients are all phosphate free, which is great for those on septic systems (such as ourselves). There are no harsh chemicals or dyes found in homemade laundry detergent, which means that it is also hypoallergenic.

I hope that I have at least convinced you to try to make your own laundry detergent. It is easy and extremely cheap!

Compact Fluorescent Light Bulbs

I know this is the most obvious thing one can do to help cut electricity costs in their home, but I feel that I really need to cover this subject. Although they do cost more than traditional light bulbs, they will pay off within two years, just by how much you save on your hydro bill. Here is some information about compact fluorescent light bulbs:

• CFLs give off the same amount of light as a traditional incandescent light bulb but use 75 percent less energy and last 10 times longer (over 6000 hours, or roughly five years). They are the only light bulbs to carry the ENERGY STAR designation.
  
• They can directly replace incandescent or halogen lamps in many fixtures. Although they are more costly than incandescent light bulbs, the energy savings can pay off the additional cost in less than two years when used in light fixtures that are on for more than three hours per day.
  
• Modern CFLs provide the characteristic warm glow of incandescent light bulbs, making them suitable for any application in the house. **

There are sometimes coupons available for CFLs as well, which will assist you in saving even more money.

Although CFLs do cost more than the incandescent light bulb, it is well worth the investment. Why? CFLs last about 5 years, which is up to 10 times longer than incandescent bulbs. Which means that over time, you would be spending about the same amount of money on CFLs as you would be incandescents. This, in turn, would end up saving you money because of the electricity savings over time.

We have switched every single light bulb in our house over to CFLs. In the last year, we have seen an average monthly savings of $6.75. I know that may not seem like a lot of money, but over a 12 month period, that is an average savings of $81!! That is more than enough money to completely replace all of the incandescent light bulbs in your house with CFLs.

**Information from Natural Resources Canada website.