I have become the epitome of frugal: I just made my own laundry detergent. I decided it sounded like a fun project to do today, so I hunted down the ingredients to make it, and voila! I know have a ton of homemade laundry detergent stored in a trash can down in my basement. I decided the liquid homemade laundry detergent would be my best bet, so that’s what I decided to make.

Before I started, I gathered up the following supplies:

• A pot to melt the soap in
• Bar of soap (I chose Ivory soap because it is non irritating)
• 1 gallon jug
• Trash can to store laundry detergent in
• 1 box of Washing Soda
• 1 box Borax
• Long handled spoon to stir mixture

Where to buy washing soda? It was a little tough to find, but my local Meijer carried it in the laundry detergent aisle. I called 1-800-524-1328, put in my zip code, and it told me where I could find it.

Here is the recipe for dry laundry detergent:

• 2 1/2 ounces soap bars, grated into flakes (Approx. a half a bar of soap)
• 1 cup borax
• 1 cup washing soda

Here’s the homemade laundry detergent recipe for liquid laundry detergent:

• 1 bar of soap of your choice
• 1 cup washing soda
• ½ cup borax

My first step was to almost boil about 4-5 cups of water, and shave the bar of soap into the water, stirring occasionally. Once that was done, I let it sit on the stove while I poured three gallons of hot water into my trash can. I then measured out 1 cup of washing soda and 1/2 cup of borax. I took the hot soap mixture, added it to the water in my trash can, and stirred until it looked pretty evenly distributed. Then I slowly added my 1 cup of washing soda until that was dissolved, and then did the same to the borax. That’s it. Fairly simple. I’m going to let it sit and get cool before I try to use it. It’s pretty liquid right now.

I have a front loading high efficiency (HE) washing machine. I’m going to use about a half a cup of this for my laundry loads. I’ll let you know how well it works!

Posted under How To, Save Your Money

I like to think I am a very health conscious person. I prefer for myself and my family to eat organic, healthful foods that will provide true nourishment for our bodies. The only drawback is that it usually costs more than conventional foods. I’ve tried many different ideas to help cut our grocery budget.

Go to your local grocery store and look at their marked down organic/natural foods.

The city I work in has a very diverse population. Many people are “good old country people” who probably don’t care too much about buying organic food. That works to my advantage, though, because I can go to Kroger and pick up some organic food at half price or marked down considerably because it’s going to expire in a few days. I will buy things like boxes of cereal or meats if they are marked down or really inexpensive and the store or freeze them. I also have purchased natural laundry detergent for a good price because the store was no longer carrying that type of product and have used that for awhile.

Buy store brand organic foods when possible.

Because the store doesn’t have to spend tons of money on advertising, they can offer their products to you at a lower price. Make sure you read labels, but normally the store brand foods are going to taste the same and be the same quality as the name brand foods and goods. Just because it’s not advertised doesn’t mean it’s not a good product. Shop wisely. Read More…

Posted under How To, Save Your Money

I know personally the winter is a really tough time on my budget for heating expenses. Our household tries many different approaches to saving money on our gas and electric bill.

1. Keep the temperature a little lower than we used to.

We keep it at about 65 degrees while we are home. When we are not home, we turn it down to 55 degrees. Why heat the house when you are not home? You can also buy a programmable thermostat to change the temperature for you automatically. We wear more sweatshirts and warmer clothing to keep ourselves warm. We also use a space heater in the room we are in, cuddle under blankets, and turn off the vents to the other rooms. We shut the doors to the unused rooms to keep the heat from escaping into the other rooms. Also, if you are lucky enough to have a wood burning stove or fireplace, use it! Read More…

Posted under How To, Save Your Money