Why bother? Well, for us it comes down to three things:

1. I have sensitive skin, and standing in front of a class of teenagers scratching like mad is a bit disruptive to the educational process.
2. The husband has a rather sensitive sense of smell, and doesn’t like any of the laundry detergents that don’t bother my skin.
3. Cost! Rather Than spend $7 on a box of detergent, this costs us about $1.41 a batch, and lasts about the same amount of time. That is a savings of about $145 a year. That’s yarn money people.

There are a lot of recipes on-line that let you make a big gooey batch that you ladle out. That doesn’t appeal to me much, so we use a dry version. The final product will smell like whatever soap you use. You can add essential oils for scent if yo want.

If you have never used washing soda I really recommend it…works very well on greasy stains. I’ve been using it lately to pre-soak the kids socks and it work much better than bleach. Supposed to be a “Green Cleaner” if you are into such things.

Ingredients:

• 1 bar of soap, any kind will do, we use ivory, but a lot of people like Naptha.
• 1 cup Borax
• 1 cup Washing soda, NOT baking soda, it’s in the laundry aisle and it’s pretty cheap

Directions

• Grate the bar of soap
• Mix all the ingredients in a airtight container.

** Be careful with the washing soda, especially if the kids are helping. Avoid contact with the eyes, don’t swallow, etc.
To use just add 3 - 4 Tablespoons per full load of laundry, depending on how dirty it is. I find it works best if you add it while the washing machine is filling.

What do you think?
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Categories:   Family, Chores, Laundry, kids-can-help.
Posted:   Tuesday, November 13th, 2007 at 4:20 pm