{Awesome} Homemade Laundry Detergent

     Pinterest is full of good ideas and I like to give them a try - not just leave them useless on my boards! This was my first venture into homemade cleaning supplies, and of course I chose to do it the week my husband got a new job and life was all sorts of crazy!

     However, we ran out of laundry soap and there was no way I was making a trip to the store with all four girls on the first week of my domestication. I was putting laundry off for a few days in hopes of getting a chance to run to the store by myself when life very quickly threw me a curve ball - well, several. Potty training accidents, husband's new work clothes, baby spit up all over the bed, and smelly dish towels forced me into action. It was time to give it a try.

     Due to my procrastination, I needed some detergent and I needed it right away. So I tucked aside my original recipe that called for boiling and shredding soap and went for the more daring choice. I found the recipe as follows on this lovely blog here. I then made it less concentrated, quadrupled the recipe, and gave it a new name.

{Awesome} Homemade Laundry Detergent

• 1/2 cup plus 1 TBS Borax
• 1/2 cup plus 1 TBS Washing Soda 
• 1/3 cup plus 1TBS Dawn Dish soap
• 12 cups Water - 6 boiled, 6 room temp

1. I first guzzled the last of my Minute Maid orange juice conveniently packaged in a nifty 1 gallon jug, and washed it out thoroughly (I was worried about my laundry smelling orange-y).

2. I then used a funnel to pour in each of the first three ingredients (do the Dawn last or you have to rinse and dry the funnel...just saying).

3. Next, I slowly poured in the boiled water.

4. Then I gently swished the mixture together to avoid excess bubbles. (This picture only shows a couple cups of the mixture). Make sure all the ingredients have been dissolved.

5. Lastly, I slowly poured in the room temp water.

All you need is 1/4 cup for each load. I went with it and held my breath! Not really, I set a timer as I am notorious for leaving wet loads of laundry in the washer for hours (dare I admit, days?) at a time.

My opinion? A-W-E-S-O-M-E-N-E-S-S! My clothes were sparkling {not literally} clean, oh-so-soft and fluffy, and didn't leave my clothes feeling heavy like my other detergent did. Oh, and it was fast, easy, and so cheap I celebrated by buying some containers to organize my pantry with the money I saved.

Just how cheep you ask? I'm no mathematician, but my calculations came to $0.024 per load! Compared to the $0.38 per load I was paying for my Tide Free and Clear. I figured a gallon would last me about 9 weeks and would only cost me about $1.53 vs the over $15 I was paying for the other stuff.

I've done at least 20 loads of laundry with my new {Awesome} Homemade Laundry Detergent and still get excited at how soft they are. It almost makes me not want to try making {Awesome} Homemade Fabric Softener...almost.

So, you're going to go give it a go now aren't ya?

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