Cutting costs in the home

Many of you out there are in the same position I have been in for the last few years now. The economy has taken a slice out of our regular spending habits, and we have had to economize, cut out luxuries, and stop eating out, and just plain figure out how we are gonna afford the necessities in life. Lets be honest now, many of you moms, dads, and caretakers may think your doing your best at cutting out costs. But until it hits you smack dab in the face, and you dont have two nickles to rub together, thats when you realize, "is there a better cheaper way without cutting on quality!".  YES there is.... I've been doing it for almost 4 years now when my husband lost his job, and I was working part time, and his unemployment wasnt enough to pay rent. Thats pretty drastic when you have 4 kids, and you wonder how you will make it. Well I'm here to tell you it is all possible if you are willing to to try and give in to sceptcism.

One way of cutting a ridiculous cost in the home is to stop buying expensive laundry detergent! Yes, I said no more laundry detergent. Now I'm not suggesting give up washing clothes, or wearing clothes until they smell, but think about it how much a week do you spend on soap every week, or month? $10, $15, $30, $50 ???

What would you do with that extra $50 a month if you could save it? Use it on food? Pay a bill? Put it in savings? You could do a lot with that money over the course of a year. I personally spent over $50 a month on laundry products, thats a savings of $600 a year.

Okay, so now that I have your attention what do I do to wash my clothes. I make my own detergent. There are many people out there who do this. Its safe for those fancy HE machines, as well as the older models. Its economical, Phosphate free (and not a pricey as thos brands in the store), and works just as good as the expensive brands.

My first order of business is to teach you to start helping your familys budget by learning to make your products at home much cheaper than you can buy in the store.

Items you will need:
5 gal. bucket & lid (cleaned & dry)
1 laundry soap container (cleaned and dry)
1 Fels-Naptha bar (or an Ivory soap bar, or a non perfumed soap bar) Grated into smaller pieces for melting. The smaller the shavings the faster it will be.
1 C. Washing soda (not baking soda- I buy mine at Wal-mart in the laundry section on the bottom shelf)
1/2 C- 1C. Borax
1/4 C. Salt (table salt works fine****optional)
Non reactive pot for boiling water
long stick, broom handle (for stiring in the bucket, use whatever you have at home)

Bring 4-8 C. water to a boil in the pot.
Reduce heat to Med. heat.
Add soap and stir constantly until all soap is melted. (about 10-15min.)
Once melted turn off heat, remove from burner add salt (only if you have hard water). I only started doing this recently because my water is so hard.

Pour this pot of soap into the 5gal. bucket.  Now add the Borax, and Washing Soda until completely dissolved. Fill the pot with hot tap waterand fill the bucket 1/2 way, stir, fill with hot water to top (leave enough head room for the lid). Stir again. Attach lid.

Now this is the hard part.... Wait!

Let the mixture Sit overnight and gel up. For it to gel up it must completely cool.
This 5 gal bucket of laundry soap actually makes 10 gal.
Add equal parts of newly made soap & water to container & shake to mix. Voila!

This soap can be scented by using 10-20 drops of essential oils to the laundry soap you are dispensing from. Be careful not to use anything other that essential oils as they can irritate you skin, and cause rashes.

HAPPY SOAP MAKING :)