DIY: Laundry Detergent

Have you ever attempted making your own laundry detergent? I have just started recently but I'm sold! I like how it smells. I like how inexpensive it is. I like that it only takes about 5 minutes to make. I searched the internet for different homemade laundry detergent recipes and most are very similar. Here's my recipe based on my preferences:

The Ingredients:

1. Fels-Naptha soap. This soap is incredible. It is very powerful and it smells so fresh.

2. Washing Soda. (Not baking soda!)

3. Borax. I knew that this was made for laundry but had previously only used it mixed with glue to make gak in elementary school... Borax's purpose is to make clothes brighter and remove odors.

I found all of the ingredients in the laundry aisle at Walmart. I also found them all at Publix but the soap cost a bit more there.

How to:

1. Grate 1/5 of a bar of Fels-Naptha soap into a large pot.
2. Add 4 cups of water and stir over medium heat until all soap shreds melt.
3. Add 1/4 cup of Washing Soda and 1/4 cup of borax and stir just until they dissolve.
(You can also stir in 1/2 oz. of an essential oil at this point if you want. I don't.)
4. Remove from heat and stir in 12 cups of water (room temperature or warm). Ta Da! You did it!
5. Pour into container. I pour it into a leftover, empty laundry detergent container (1.17 gal). Other people put it into a bucket or a pretty dispenser etc. As the detergent sits, it will gel a bit more.

How much to use:

Use 1/2 cup of detergent per load of laundry. Provides enough for 32 loads.

How much does it Cost:

Just over 1 cent per load!
Fels-Naptha: $0.97 for 5 oz bar. 1/5 of bar= $0.19
Washing Soda: $3.97 for a 55 oz box. (1/4 c. washing soda weighs 2.2 oz.) 
1/4 c. washing soda= $0.16
Borax: $3.97 for a 65 oz box. (1/4 c. borax weighs 1.8 oz).
1/4 c. borax= $0.11
$0.19+$0.16+$0.11= $0.46 for the recipe. Under 50 cents for 1 gallon of detergent.

Forty-six cents for the entire recipe. Each recipe provides enough detergent for 32 loads. So each load costs just over a penny!


I've enjoyed making this. Hope you will, too! :)

Words like Daggers

I've been thinking a lot about words lately. Do I use my words to tear down or to build up? "There is one whose rash words are like sword thrusts, but the tongue of the wise brings healing." (Prov. 12:18) Rash words are spoken without consideration of how deeply they might cut. They may be forgotten by the speaker but linger as a sharp sting on the hurting. I try to remind myself often that everyone experiences pain and many people are currently right in the middle of a difficult time. What a shame it would be if I added to the burdens of those who are struggling instead of being a kind hand that lifts them up.

When I am hurt, I take solace in Jesus. He has experienced the pain of every sin without fault, which I surely cannot say about myself. How painful it must have been for Him to love people so much that He came to die for them and yet have them speak so harshly against Him. I can imagine their tones as they repeatedly tried to trap Him with their questions. Their haughty eyes as they rejected Him for not being the kind of leader that they wanted. "He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; as one from whom men hide their faces He was despised, and we esteemed Him not." (Isa. 53:3) We were so cruel to Him. And yet, He has been so gracious to us. What a humble Savior we have.

Oh how I desire to be like Him. I want to be kind like He is kind. I want to encourage others the way that He encourages me. I want to build up His body and never tear it down. I want to be a woman of forgiveness and grace. "Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer." (Ps. 19:14)

"Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you."(Ephesians 4:29-32)

Let us cling tightly to Jesus, our haven against the stinging rain. And let us be carriers of His forgiveness and grace to all people.

"Gracious words are like a honeycomb, sweetness to the soul and health to the body." (Prov. 16:24)