Pennies for Neverland - Making your own laundry soap

Hi, everyone! Hope you're all having a good Monday. Sorry there wasn't a Sunday with Friends post yesterday; I'll have another one for you next week!

Today I wanted to bring you a post in the Pennies for Neverland section, where I like to share ways to save money that you can apply towards Disney (or any other vacation you're taking)!

This post is all about laundry detergent, and how you can make yours at home for PENNIES a load. Super cheap and super easy!

I just made another batch this afternoon, so I thought I'd share it with all of you.

To get started, you'll want to get Fels Naptha soap, Boax and Washing Soda. I bought the Fels Naptha at my local store for $1.99/bar, and in looking at Amazon today the Borax is about $7-8, and the Washing Soda is running about $10.00. The boxes of Borax and Washing Soda are HUGE; they lasted me almost a year.

Here's the "recipe" I use. I typically make a double or triple batch at a time, because I figure I might as well make a lot if I already have the matierals out. I use, per batch:

1 bar Fels Naptha Soap

1 cup Borax

1 cup Washing Soda

First, you'll want to take the soap, and grate it. I just used my food processor but you could use a cheese grater if that's what you have. I do highly recommend the food processor, because it makes it SUPER fast to grind up the soap.

The soap smells good but be sure you put a towel or your hand over the top of the food processor, as soap dust will be flying! :)

When it's ground up, it resembles cornmeal. Be sure to have a large bowl to mix it in. Then add your Borax and Washing Soda, mix together and bam! Easy peasy.

I also usually add some essential oil to my soap; today I used an orange scent that makes it smell super awesome.

And that's IT. SO easy. Foolproof, really!

When it's all mixed, you'll want to find a container to store it in. I just use an old yogurt container but you can use anything you have on hand.

I then use a tablespoon of soap in each load - just put it wherever you add your regular laundry soap in your machine, and you're good to go!

I ended up making a TON today (I bought four bars of Fels Naptha so I just went ahead and made it all). I filled up my large storage container, AND also filled about 1/2 of a gallon sized Ziploc bag. This amount of soap will last me forever - I do about 3-4 loads of laundry a week, and when I make my normal double batch I have laundry soap for about 4-5 months. I am estimating that this quadrulple batch will last between 8-10 months.

Since even the quadruple recipe doesn't use all of the Borax and Washing Soda, I estimate that the soap I made today (again, for 8-10 months worth of laundry), cost me only about $20.00! SCORE!

Try it out, and let me know what you think! Here are some links to Amazon so you can order your ingredients today!









Have a magical day!