My friend Martha from church recently tried to convince me to start making my own laundry detergent. Now, I realize that you might make your own, because a lot of women online do — but I JUST DON’T HAVE TIME FOR ADDING MORE WORK TO MY DAYS!
At least, that was my reasoning.
Seriously, though, I am not Super Woman. Or Pioneer Woman. I am already doing too many things, and if I add one more thing to my list, I’m afraid I might crack open. I’m perfectly content with using store-bought laundry detergent, and I DON’T HAVE TIME FOR ADDING MORE WORK TO MY DAYS!
But she kept bugging me.
She kept telling me how much money she was saving. It was costing her something like $.04 per load. (I haven’t figured it out personally.) It did a fabulous job cleaning her clothes. Her Sean works on a chicken farm, and it even cleans his dirty jeans.
Yadda, yadda, yadda. I don’t have time for this!
Then I went over to her house, and she proudly showed me how easy it was to grate the bar of soap (“Took just a couple minutes… it’s like butter, Anne”). Then she paraded me down to her laundry room, and she showed me how a cup of this and a cup of that, plus the grated bar of soap… shake, shake, shake… and voila! Soap! And it does a hundred loads! (I haven’t figured this out myself.)
Hmm… Well, I probably did have time, but why? My husband likes the soap we were using just fine… and he’s picky about things like that. A submissive wife wouldn’t try new things all the time if her husband liked what she was already doing.
Then my husband found out about it. Her Sean talked to my Kraig, and the guys talked about how skeptical they were — but how they loved it after trying it.
So, last week, when I went grocery shopping, I placed my normal laundry soap in the cart. (Cha ching…) My husband said, “Wow, that’s expensive. We should try the soap that Sean and Martha use.”
“Oh, honey, I DON’T HAVE TIME TO ADD ONE MORE JOB TO MY LIFE!”
“Yeah, but if it works that well and saves that much money, maybe we should think about it. Do they sell the supplies here?”
(Groan.)Â “I have no idea.”
“Well, let’s look. Fels Naptha soap bars… yup! Borax… yup! Washing soda… yup! Isn’t that all we need? And wow, this stuff’s cheap!”
(Groan.) “Shouldn’t we also get some regular laundry soap? What if we don’t like this stuff? BESIDES, I DON’T HAVE TIME FOR ALL THIS CRAZINESS!”
“Oh, I’ll grate it for you, Anne. I’m stronger than you, and it won’t take me long. You just mix it together. It’ll be easy!”
So what could I say? We marched home, where he promptly kept his word and grated up the soap bar for me. (Took like 3 minutes, if that. I suppose I could have done it, but since he offered…) I dumped the soap flakes in a plastic container, and added 2 cups of Borax and 2 cups of washing soda… Shake, shake, shake. I grabbed a two-tablespoon coffee scoop we weren’t using, and I dumped some soap in our washing machine. I added a ton of the dirtiest jeans I could find.
And they all came out beautifully!
So the moral of my silly story is that some “labor-saving” ideas aren’t worth the time — and others? Well, Martha, you win! 🙂
Here are some more labor-saving housework ideas we use in our home:
- I make a menu every week, writing it on a special menu form I made and posting it on the side of our refrigerator. When the week is over, I save my menus in a 3-ring binder. Next Labor Day, my menu is all planned, saving me 30 minutes a week.
- My rule for choosing what to make for dinner is that it can take no longer than 10-20 minutes in the kitchen for prep work and no longer than 10 minutes at the end to go from oven or stovetop to table. Racing the timer helps me achieve this.
- We eat the same kind of foods on the same nights each week. Sunday is pot roast, Monday is hamburger-something, Tuesday is chicken-something, Wednesday is Mexican, Thursday is Try-Something-New, Friday is pizza, and Saturday is crockpot or leftovers. This saves me brain energy.
- I use a grocery list that is already mostly filled in with items I buy each week. I’ve also arranged it in order of the aisles in the stores where I shop, so I can zoom up one aisle and down the next, and be outta there in 15-30 minutes. I keep a pad of paper on the side of the fridge to write down items we run out of during the week. It only takes a minute to add these items to my pre-made shopping list.
- You probably seen this picture on my blog before, but my refrigerator is “Command Central.” Honestly, my brain is permanently located here. The left side of the fridge (which you can’t see in the picture) even has all the recipes posted that I use often.
- We keep kitchen tools where we’re most likely to use them in the kitchen, so we don’t have to reach too far or walk around too much. For some things (like scissors and bowls), I even have duplicates on two sides of the kitchen — because I’m that lazy! Seriously, though, this really speeds me up and makes my life easier. My son Andrew, who always dries the dishes, is very good about putting things back where they belong, too.
- We try very hard to wash our dishes right away, before any food has time to harden on. This really saves us a lot of time! We especially try to never go to bed with dirty dishes in the sink. (Okay, maybe a couple cups.) I must admit I cheat, though — my kids usually do the dishes. 🙂
- I keep a container of baby wipes under each bathroom sink, and I use one to wipe down the sink, counter, and toilet rim almost every time I’m in there. This helps our bathroom stay nice so I only have to “deep clean” it once a week. I also spray down the shower when I get out of it each morning. (Now who will be the first to comment and tell me I should make my own baby wipes!)
- We keep our shoes all together in a nice shoe holder in our hallway. (My dad made it for me.) When our shoes come off, we’re supposed to put them away — right away. (Usually this happens.) This helps a lot, because I personally think that losing shoes in a busy house like ours is the number-one way to add a lot of work and time to my day. Aaack!
- The same goes for my purse, the diaper bag, the keys, my husband’s wallet, the kids’ church bags, football equipment, and mail to take to the post office. We try to have “a place for everything and everything in its place.” If the kids want to see Mom get upset, they know it’s easy. Just put something away only inches from where it belongs. (I’m likely to make them put it away ten times or run laps around the house or something else to help them remember.)
- I wear an apron a lot. (Okay, so now I look like a pioneer woman!) The apron must have big pockets. These pockets contain my lip balm, sticky notes, a pen or two, a thermometer, my voice recorder, and my mp3 player. Oh, and miscellaneous toys and hair accessories found around the house during the day.
Now let’s hear your ideas! (Anything except the homemade baby-wipe recipe…)
Happy Labor Day,
loved your story. For the same reason I have not yet made my own detergent. Perhaps I will give it a try now. Thanks.
I really am a chicken…
Lovely ideas, and very helpful too. I’m going to look up the detergent recipe, don’t get that soap bar here in South Africa, but I’m sure there is something similar here. Is it like a pure soap bar?
My time saving tips are pretty boring but they help me cope. I never make one meal worth of foods such as soup, stews or hamburger. I always make double or even four times as much. It takes just as long to cook, then I freeze the extra meals, and voila, on my “sick” days, I have a meal almost ready. I also buy cheese in bulk, it’s a lot more cost effective, then I use my food processor and grate it all quickly into baggies. I freeze most of it and keep a bit out in the ‘fridge for current use. When I need cheese for dishes or sandwiches, it’s already grated, and the children use less on sandwiches than if they were cutting chunks, er…I mean slices. Also, my freezer is my big friend, I shop once a month for milk, store bread and meat, then freeze them, and avoid town thereafter, except for emergencies. It’s sounds so funny, but one brilliant way of saving time and money, is not to run to the shops every few days 😉
Lindy, my friend says that you can also use Ivory soap, and I read a blog post by a woman who uses her own homemade soap. The Fels Naptha bar was 5 1/2 oz. (155 g).
I appreciate all your ideas. I totally agree with you on the shopping. (I just got home from the store, in fact. Ug…) I used to live in a remote area in Arizona, and we only shopped every 4-6 weeks. I should get back to that.
We use handmade soap we buy on Ebay. (Still haven’t gotten around to making my own SOAP yet!) Smile! It’s a little more expensive than store soap but we like it better. You can use Ivory or Zote.
I use white (not pink) Zote brand soap. It can be found in the laundry aisle or sometimes in the “Latin” section, as it is a Mexican soap. Using a fine grate is better for dissolving purposes in the machine.
Also, if you live in a humid area, let the soap gratings dry out on an old cookie sheet for a couple of days.
I loved your post. I’m going to try to make my own detergent now. So, just one bar of grated Fels Naptha, 2 cups Borax and 2 cups washing soda? How much do you use per load? Thanks for all your inspiration. I love your e-zines – read them all no matter what the topic is – I find them applicable to my life. Thanks, Debbie
That’s the recipe I made, although I’ve also seen 1/3 bar of Fels Naptha to 1 cup Borax and 1 cup washing soda.
I used 2 Tablespoons per load. I’ve seen to only use 1 Tablespoon, but we have a large-capacity washer, and I’ve been in the habit of using 2 “servings” of store-bought soap, so I’ve been too chicken to use less. It’s still amazingly cheap.
(And thanks for the kind words! I’ve had a lot of “heavy” blog posts lately, and I was in the mood for something a little more light.)
Washing Soda? Is that the same thing as baking soda?
No, it isn’t, although my box of “washing soda” is still made by Arm & Hammer. I found it at our local Wal-mart in the laundry detergent aisle, on the bottom shelf, close to the fabric softeners. It was right next to the Borax. Here is a picture: http://www.armandhammer.com/fabric-care/laundry-boosters/Products/arm-and-hammer-super-washing-soda-detergent-booster.aspx
Can you use this homemade laundry soap in a HE front loader? Has anyone tried it?
My friend from Facebook said yesterday that she uses it in her front load washer. Hmmm…
YES, homemade laundry soap is great for front loaders as it’s “low sudsing”! I’ve been using my homemade laundry soap for over two years in my HE front loader. My recipe is similar to Anne’s however I use water to turn the detergent into a gel.
I have a stainless steel fridge in my apartment and FYI the magnets don’t stick on the stainless steel part. So don’t upgrade command central! hahaha 😉
I use it in my HE but I make the liquid version.
Homemade Liquid Laundry Soap- Front or top load machine- best value
4 Cups hot tap water
1 Fels-Naptha soap bar
1 Cup Washing Soda
½ Cup Borax
– Grate bar of soap and add to saucepan with water. Stir continually over medium-low heat until soap dissolves and is melted.
-Fill a 5 gallon bucket half full of hot tap water. Add melted soap, washing soda and Borax. Stir well until all powder is dissolved. Fill bucket to top with more hot water. Stir, cover and let sit overnight to thicken.
-Stir and fill a used, clean, laundry soap dispenser half full with soap and then fill rest of way with water. Shake before each use. (will gel)
-Optional: You can add 10-15 drops of essential oil per 2 gallons. Add once soap has cooled. Ideas: lavender, rosemary, tea tree oil.
-Yield: Liquid soap recipe makes 10 gallons.
-Top Load Machine- 5/8 Cup per load (Approx. 180 loads)
-Front Load Machines- ¼ Cup per load (Approx. 640 loads)
I have a cabrio HE top loader and use 1/4 cup for normal loads a little more if it is really yucky. Vinegar for the rinse.
I save time in the shower by only using one product to clean me and another to clean the shower! 🙂 i make a shampoo “head to toe” bar soap for me. And then because it takes so little time to clean me, I take a couple minutes to enjoy the hot shower by using my Norwex shower mitt to clean a small portion of my shower walls — a couple minutes of scrubbing every day means a clean shower by the end of the week! 🙂
I’ve been afraid to try homemade laundry soap because my family has sensitive skin. I have to use “free” products for laundry. Does anyone know if the above ingredients would be safe for us to use?
My family was able to use Fels for about 1 1/2 years. I’m not sure if they changed the ingredients, or if it is because I tried Zote soap one time (My husband and son had HUGE hives), and there was some lingering from that, so I have stopped. However, my children got into poison ivy, and I used a bar of Fels for their bath and they did not have another reaction to it, so I might start up fresh again. My husband worked as a concrete precast manger — read concrete dust coating everything, and the homemade detergent was the best. You could try a “free” bar of soap if the Fels doesn’t work. I’m pretty sure the Borax and Washing soda are standard in all detergents you buy in the store, so it would be just a matter of finding the right bar soap.
Hope this helps!
I use cloth diapers for our 17 month old, and have had best results washing them with Purex Free & Clear. Has anyone tried using the homemade laundry detergent on cloth diapers, and if so, with what results?
I use homemade laundry soap for our cloth diapers and love it. I use a scoop in m diaper pail for soaking too,
I’m personally not a fan of homemade, because I’ve read about how it can damage your washer over time. Also, with coupons and shopping sales, I average 6 cents a load on mainstream stuff. If you want more sciencey info, there is a huge group on facebook and a website all about it. Your water type & acidity makes a difference in how things will work, too. http://www.FluffLoveUniversity.com
Thank you! 🙂
I’m beginning to see the wisdom in making menus, even though I keep insisting that it will take up my time(much like your laundry detergent conundrum)! I’m going to look around for menu posts…I keep an mp3 in my pocket with all my fave sermons, songs, etc…lol:)
I’ve used the homemade laundry soap for a long time. I prefer a nice pure soap, but I usually end up buying the White Zote, only can find it in a Latin/hispanic store. I make my soap liquid, and I have an HE washer. I made all the cloth diapers and did use the soap on them. As with all cloth diaper, they do periodically need to be stripped, usually with Dawn. If you check diapering sites they usually give a good rundown on stripping. My favorite was hanging the diapers in the sun.
By the way, that kitchen looks like the same setup as mine from that angle, except I have a side by side frig.
As for the soap, you can really use anything you like. some people save all the ends/slivers of their soap until they have enough. I use mine for making hand soap for my pumps. You can use ivory, kirks, pure soap, or anything else. The soap seems to work great for making my tile really clean in my kitchen. Of course, I discovered that by accident, laziness causing me to just grab whatever soap was handy at the time.
I also use the double cook routine/freezing meals. I think that is my favorite, it to have great “snacks” in the freezer that are actually healthy. Frozen muffins, waffles and breakfast sandwiches are the best. Pop a waffle in the toaster and breakfast is ready. The healthier you make them, the better.
I see you have an arrow pointing out that you wish you had the stainless steel model. Keep in mind that you can’t use magnets on some of the stainless models. A good reason to hang onto the one you have. 🙂
Here are some time saving tips that help me.
Line the trash with 2 or more bags, so you don’t have to put a new bag each time. This also keep the trash can itself clean so you don’t have to wash it as frequently.
Buy an industrial size mop. If the mop’s 2 x bigger the job is done 2x quicker.
Hang clothes before dryer stops – you won’t need to iron.
Tidy round house 15 mins before going to bed – get children to join in
Make a To-Do List, it really fills good crossing those tasks off
Every time I need a good laugh I search up this blog on your site and re read it (for the 100-somethingth time) Really I’m glad you enjoy the soap just as much as Sean and I do 😀 I’m currently in search of a how-to dish soap… We’ll see if it works that well and if I pull you in with that 😉 Your words are very inspiring and I thank you and your husband for everything you bring to our life and our church 😀