An easy way to save money by stretching a dollar is to make your own soap. There are several recipes online that will give a pretty decent soap with effective cleaning power, but from my personal experience, less is more when considering soap recipes. The best recipes that I have found contain four or less ingredients for each type of soap.
Ingredients to Make Detergents and Soaps
- Liquid Castille Soap
- Washing Soda
- Fels Naptha
- Ivory Bar Soap
- Borax
- Favorite Scented Essential Oil
Steps in Making Soap
In order to make most soaps, a good place to start is by shaving bars of soap. Take three bars each of Fels Naptha and Ivory bar soap and completely grate it down. Store each type of grated soap in individual air-tight containers until needed.
Make Your Own Laundry Detergent
Purchasing premade laundry detergent can cost over one hundred dollars per year when washing clothes for a family of four. By making your own detergent, you will be spending less money and protecting your family from harmful chemical residue left in clothing from commercial detergents.
To make laundry detergent, combine into an air-tight container:
- 1 cup Borax
- 1 cup Washing Soda
- ¼ cup Fels Naptha
- ¼ cup Ivory Bar Soap
Recipe for Hand Soap
Making hand soap is incredibly easy. There are only three ingredients, and no measuring is necessary. A foaming hand soap container is necessary for this recipe, so be sure and have one on hand when making this particular recipe.
To make foaming hand soap, combine the following ingredients into a foaming hand soap container:
- Fill half of the container with liquid castile soap.
- Fill the remaining portion of the container with water.
- Add three drops of essential oil to the mixture and place the lid on the container.
Homemade Dishwasher Detergent
Making dishwasher detergent is very similar to laundry detergent. Most issues that users have with homemade dishwasher detergent deals with a hazy film that is left on dishes after the wash cycle is complete. With this recipe, we have not experienced any of the common issues noted with homemade detergents.
To make homemade dishwasher detergent, combine the following ingredients into an air-tight container:
- 1 cup Borax
- 1 cup Washing Soda
- ½ cup Ivory Bar Soap
If a film becomes visible on dishes washed with this recipe, consider placing three to four tablespoons of vinegar or lemon juice into the bottom of the dishwasher to clear the haze left on the dishes.
Making your own cleaners and detergents at home saves a lot of money. It also helps to ensure that family members are not exposed to harmful chemicals that could prove to be toxic. Consider some of these recipes the next time you need to purchase detergents. You may find that the homemade recipes are just as effective as the pricier commercial mixtures.
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