What we did with a plethora of Irish Springs...

One of the things that I do to help save us money is make our own laundry detergent. The first time I did this I did a liquid recipe, and I have to admit-I rushed through it a little bit...and while it turned out alright for the first week or so, it did soon begin to separate into a sort of gel that neither my husband nor I wanted use. So, the next time I went with a dry detergent, and so far-this has been awesome!!! AND perhaps even cooler is that it doesn't take long to put together.

For the version that I use, here are the directions.

1c Borax

1c Washing Soda

2c grated bar soap.

Now, there are people and blogs who use only certain brands of soap, but we were recently given a plethora of Irish Springs bar soap, and this is what I've been using. Neither of us have super sensitive skin, so this has worked well for us. Some of the other soaps I've seen recommended or would personally recommend are Fels Naptha, or Ivory. I imagine this would work with any bar of soap you have on hand.

To grate the soap I use an old cheese grater. I grate the cheese into a bowl or container we just have on hand, and then when I have the 2 cups I need, I combine the soap with the Borax and Washing Soda. I stir it up with a spoon and shake it-you can do either/or, but I prefer both. This detergent can be stored just about anywhere, in anything-a disposable container, a diaper wipes box, anything you have lying around that will fit the mixture should work. My work uses insane amounts of the Clorox Wipes for the Kitchen (the kind in the cute little box), and so I bring those home and use them to store my detergent in.

If you want to try this, or check out other recipes, there are tons of options on google, however, one of my favorite go-to sites is WiseBread, and they have a link for household cleaning hacks...which is http://www.wisebread.com/household-cleaning-hacks-that-save-you-money , and they have a link there for an option for 10 homemade laundry detergent recipes, and the link is http://tipnut.com/10-homemade-laundry-soap-detergent-recipes/

Hope this helps! If you decide to do this, or already do-I would love some feedback as to why you chose homemade detergent, and why you chose which version to use! :)

~C.