Homemade Laundry Detergent--Powdered

Coupon clipping, green living, and homemade cleaners. These are all ways friends and family are trying to save money and live more frugally. In our family, we are experimenting with homemade laundry detergent. An average of 8 loads of laundry each week equates to $988/year (52 weeks) spent at the laundry mat for washing and drying. Line drying would reduce this cost to about $572/year--a $416 savings. Perhaps this summer we'll look into arranging a portable clothesline! In the meantime, as far as laundry goes, the place we have opportunity to save is with our detergent. We figure we're spending roughly $50-70 a year on detergent.

We've heard good testimonies of people saving money by making their own laundry detergent. So we thought we'd give it a try. Here are the questions we're asking:

1. Is it really worth the time and effort to make it at home verses buying cheaper brands?

2. Is there really a savings?

3. Is there a difference between the powdered and liquid recipes?

4. How effective are the detergent solutions?

One particular recipe was recommended by friends and so it's the first one we tried. This recipe is a powdered mix calling for Borax, Arm & Hammer Laundry Soda, and Fels Naptha bar soap. Borax was on sale at our local grocery for $2.99, regularly priced at $4.99. (One should note that discount stores carry the same amount of Borax in a differently shaped box for the regular price of $2.98.) The Laundry Soda at the local grocery was $2.79/box. Fels Naptha was $1.98/bar. The recipe requires two bars. I have been unable to locate the soda and bar soap at local discount stores. Our recipe called for:

1 cup Borax

1 cup Laundry Soda

2 cups Fels Naptha (2 bars)

Use 1-2 tbsp per load

Our math tells us that one batch of this powdered detergent would cost $4.58 to make. At 2 tablespoons per load it would service approximately 32 loads making the cost per load 14 cents. Our local discount stores sells powdered detergent brands that average 9-14 cents per load. Comparing powdered detergents, this recipe does not appear to be much of a savings. At 9 cents that's $37.44 for a years worth of detergent. At 14 cents a load, $58.24 a year.

Some online recipes substitute Ivory soap for the Fels Naptha. The Ivory bars are a bit smaller and cost us 37.5 cents per bar. This drops the per load price for the recipe to 5 cents a load using 2 Ivory bars and 6 cents a load using 3 Ivory bars. Using the Ivory alternative would cost $24.96 per year for detergent. That would be a $33.28 savings per year compared to the 14 cent price.

CONCLUSIONS FOR POWDERED DETERGENT:

1. Is it really worth the time and effort to make it at home verses buying cheaper brands?

It appears that with powdered detergents, the savings would be to make the recipe with the Ivory soap. Even if you had to use 3 bars to equal the 2 cups required for the recipe it's still cheaper than the Fels Naptha recipe and the more expensive store bought powders. However, looking only at cost, the cheapest store bought powder was also 6 cents per load making this comparable to the Ivory recipe. For powdered detergents, our vote on this question is NO.

2. Is there really a savings?

Only if you're switching from a name brand to the Ivory version of the recipe. The same could be accomplished by switching to a generic store bought brand.

3. Is there a difference between the powdered and liquid recipes?

At a quick glance, the liquid recipes appear to reduce the cost per load to 1-2 cents. Most of these recipes use the same ingredients as the the powder.

4. How effective are the detergent solutions?

We've been very impressed with the quality of our Fels Naptha recipe. It does just as good of job on our clothing as the store bought stuff. We're washing kid clothes and construction clothes in addition to everyday items such as linens and towels. The purfumy smell of the home made recipe is very strong in the box although not very noticeable on finished clothes. We have yet to try the Ivory version of the powder, but will be doing so as soon as we've used up the Fels Naptha version.