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Health & Fitness

Laundry Soap for a Steal of a Price

Well, it's not about stealing laundry soap like we heard about on the news, for I'm much more solutions oriented than the news. It's about making laundry soap for pennies on the dollar.

Well, it’s not about stealing laundry soap like we heard about on the news, for I’m much more solutions oriented than the news. It’s about making laundry soap for pennies on the dollar. This has been being done in a lot of households for quite a while now, as families of today are faced with trying to feed the kids, pay for sports, and every other thing that comes up. Plus, we can live life well without cutting a bunch of items.

Start with a bar of soap. Although most soaps will work, Ivory is hypoallergenic, so that is what I will use for today. Washing soda (aka soda ash) and Borax will be needed and the soda ash can be picked up at the local pool supply store if it’s not in the regular stores. Get a large pan out, along with a bucket.

Grate 1/3 a bar of soap into the pan, then mix in 5 cups of hot water. Stir until the soap is melted. Add 1/2 cup of soda ash, and 1/2 cup of borax into the melted soap mixture. Mix well. Pour into the bucket and add in another 5 cups of hot water, then stir.

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Let it set 24 hours to create a liquid gel, that’s hypoallergenic, fragrance free, and ready for HE front load and regular washers. If you want it to smell fresh, just pick a fragrance oil, and use about 2 ounces. In fact, any bar of soap you like the smell of is supposed to work. For those of us in Ramona on wells with hard water, add vinegar into the rinse cycle where bleach normally goes. It will wash the pipes clean and not have a leftover smell on the clothes.

Take a large funnel from your husband’s garage and clean it out. Then use it to pour your laundry soap into one of your old laundry soap containers and you’re ready to start washing. If you don’t find it strong enough, use more soap per load then increase the soap used next batch. Every time your washer runs just think of the money you’re saving. This stuff works out to about 1 cent per load. At this home there are actually 6 containers and a very big pot to make soap with. Spending time doing this once or twice a year really helps loosen up our budget to make ends meet.

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