Laundry detergent, baby wipes and a little irony

I mentioned in my last post that I have been making some of our frequently used household products. I am doing this to cut down on cost but also to continue to rid our home of chemicals. So, both of these things are very easy to do and very cost efficient.

For the laundry detergent, I bought a box of 20 Mule Team borax (available in most large grocery stores) for $4, a box of Arm and Hammer Super Washing Soda for $3.50, and a 3 pack of Kirk's castille soap for $3.70. For just over $10, I have the supplies to make 4-5 months worth of laundry detergent. I was buying the Kirkland brand "natural and environmentally friendly" detergent before that for $13 per jug that lasted less than 2 months. Doesn't add up to a ton of cash saved, but combined with other efforts, I'm "trimming the fat" so to speak.

Laundry Detergent "Recipe"

1 cup borax

1 cup washing soda

1 bar soap

Grate the soap on a box cheese grater and mix together with other 2 ingredients. I store mine in a rubber maid plastic drink bottle with a snap on lid. For large or particularly dirty loads, use 2 tablespoons of the mixture. For smaller loads, 1 tablespoon is enough.

Our clothes come out of the wash fresh, clean and with just a faint (natural) scent of the castille soap. I made some for a friend of mine with Ivory soap because of allergy issues and it's both easier to grate up because it's softer as well as less expensive. I like the castille soap because we don't have allergy issues with the ingredients and it does not have any synthetic ingredients.

I was a little concerned about the harshness of the soda and borax, but in reading up on them both individually and combined,  and found that if I were to use the recommended 1/2 CUP "booster" they both recommend on their boxes in every load of wash, I would probably destroy our clothes! But, in 2 tablespoon increments without other soaps, it's perfectly gentle!

On to the baby wipes: this one is really easy too. Saw a giant Bounty roll of paper towels in half and place cut side down in a large plastic container (the only one I found that worked is a generic rectangular plastic tub from Walmart (where I really hate shopping). Otherwise, I'd have to put them in a heavy and cumbersome glass jar that I don't want to mess with while changing a very squirmy 2 year old. Oh, and I did not do cost comparison on this one yet. I've just wanted to try these for a long time! 

Diaper Wipe "Recipe"

2 cups warm water

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

2 tablespoons baby wash

10-12 drops tea tree oil

Combine all the liquids and pour over the paper towel roll. You don't have to use the tea tree oil, but I use it as a preservative because my first batch of wipes got stinky after a few days because there wasn't any other preservative and they go bad. 

So, here's the ironic part. Back in high school and college, I never saw myself becoming a "domestic", make-your-own anything kind of wife or mother. Let's be frank, I didn't even picture myself cooking meals let alone making laundry detergent and baby wipes! As a matter of fact, my one of my aunts knew someone who had a key chain that said, "My only domestic quality is that I live in a house". I wanted that keychain so badly because it was the perfect description of me!  Who knew I'd turn into this crunchy, earth and budget conscious kind of mom? Ha!