I’ve made my own homemade laundry detergent before. A simple mixture of grated soap, washing soda, and borax – nothing too complicated.
But I recently came across a liquid version of this mixture that made a whopping 10 gallons of laundry soap, for just a few bucks.
As a single mom who survives on one income, I try to save money any way I can. Unlike some frugal habits (dryer lint costumes anyone?), spending a few minutes cooking up laundry soap could be a substantial savings for the cost in time. Plus, I could involve the kids and make it into a quasi-science experiment (kids, why does the mixture gel when it sits overnight? anyone?).
Except.
I read the instructions on the internet about half a dozen times before I got started. I wanted to make sure I had all of the ingredients as well as paraphernalia I needed.
And yet somehow, I still managed to misread the recipe. Instead of using only a half cup of Borax and a cup of Washing Soda, I dumped the ENTIRE box of each into the melted soap.
Sigh.
This meant that I then had to get more soap to grate to even out the percentages. And I was going to need more buckets! I had already filled two 5 gallon Quik-Rete buckets (thanks, Dad!) half full of the mixture.
After a mad dash to procure more buckets (Dad again!), I went home to grate more soap and dilute the soda/borax mixture. Everything went ok until one of the buckets struck a massive leak and hot soap started pouring out all over my kitchen floor. And have you ever tried lifting a 5 gallon bucket full of liquid? (That’s 40 pounds!) Even with the weight lifting I do, it was a challenge.
So, fast forward to the next day.
I have in my kitchen TWENTY-FIVE gallons of laundry soap.
At half a cup per load, I will not run out until my youngest child is ready to leave the nest. I’m out about $8 for the supplies. Anyone need laundry detergent? Come on over!
I put one of the buckets in my car (of course, they have no lids!) to take as a gift to my parents. One hard stop, and the bucket tips, spilling droplets of gelled, lemony liquid all over my rug. Guess that saves me a step next time I go to shampoo them! At least the van smells nice now. 
The good news is, the soap works great!
Carrie is a single, work at home, homeschooling mom who blogs about frugality and other aspects of natural parenting inbetween money saving projects.
A good story and a bit funny looking back at the circumstances, but the van came out smelling like a rose! The Misadventures in Frugality title also reminded me of another organization, I think it’s FBA, Frugal (somethings) Anonymous which uses Frugality and Anonymity (like AA – Alchoholics Anonymous) and gives people a chance to recover while having security of anonymity at the same time. No doubt, Frugality, as in using coupons and codes for saving shopping dollars as well, can be a rewarding time well spent and keep money in your pocket.
Oops on making so much! Could you bottle it nicely and add it to gifts? Either which way well done on doing this AND on the nicely smelling car
Hehe… I’m recipe challenged the same way at times. Thank goodness it was never on the laundry soap recipe when I did it though! My recipe mistakes make me fat. Yours make you clean. From one single mom to another… I’d like to trade results. LOL!