Money Saving Homemade Laundry Soap

Now this recipe is, although homemade and money saving, is not all natural or organic. It is a lot better than the liquid stuff and safe on septic tanks than most commercially made detergents.

 It does make a lot and I made enough to fill a 1 gallon container and 2 half gallon containers for gifts. I also had some left that I stored in the leftover Oxyclean container.

 I originally found this recipe on How Does She. It is awesome. I did have to alter the recipe a bit since I couldn't find the Zote Soap and I prefer blue to pink so I used blue Purex Crystals. I ended up finding the containers at Walmart along with all the ingredients to make the soap. My husband figured it to be about $27.50 for the entire batch and if we used 2 tablespoons per load we would have enough for approximately 297 loads (he loves his math).  Enough for the entire year if I kept all of it, but I can't help but give some to friends and family.

Here is the recipe for the Homemade Laundry Soap.

Homemade Laundry Soap
Ingredients

• 1 (4 lb 12 oz) Box of Borax
• 1 (3 lb 7 oz) Box of Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda
• 1 (3 lb) Container of OxyClean
• 2 Bars of Fels - Naptha soap
• 1 (4 lb) Box of Arm & Hammer Baking Soda - I buy my baking soda at Costco in the 13 pound bags, so I measured out 4 pounds
• I used one large container of Purex Crystals, blue color. I only used one because I don't really like heavily scented laundry. You could use more if you prefer. There are several scents to choose and Downey also makes a fabric enhancer. So choose your favorite for a custom scent.

Instructions

1. Grate the soap with cheese grater or food processor. (I found that the smaller the grates the better the soap dissolved in the washer.
2. Mix all ingredients together in a large bucket  or large plastic bag by shaking gently.
3. Use 2 -4 Tablespoons per laundry load.

Handmade Christmas Gifts 2012

In the spirit of Christmas and St. Nicholas I decided to get started on my favorite thing. Making Presents!!! I love making gifts and giving them away.

These gift baskets are stuffed with my home made bath soak, body spray, salt scrub and soap. My deluxe basket! I finished it off with a basket and filler from the Dollar Tree and wrapped in in a clear basket bag and tied it up with simple blue ribbon.

This is another basket I filled with some home made bath soak and salt scrub. I finished it off the same way as the deluxe basket. I also do the little baskets with a scrub/body spray combo and a large scrub/small scrub combo. These are always well received around the holidays. After all the holiday shopping and traveling who isn't in the mood for some relaxing down time? These baskets provide just that!

These cute snowmen are chocolate candy bars we hand out to the kids in the neighborhood, the mail carrier or a delivery person dropping off Christmas packages. They are easy to make and affordable. Just take an 8 1/2x11 sheet of white paper and cut in half. Take a half of the paper and wrap it around the chocolate bar. Tape the back, add a cute little face to the front, tie on some ribbon and you have snowman candy bars! 

This I haven't started yet, but can you guess what I am going to make? You guessed it! Chocolate bars and truffles. These are for a cookie exchange party we are going to in mid December. Can't wait to taste test!

 Here are the soaps that I made this year. Rose scented for the ladies and Drakkar cologne for the men. They turned out quite fragrant. All I have to do is wrap them up and stuff them in a basket with other goodies.

These are the cards and matching box I made for my Mom's birthday. I chose a snowflake theme since she will most likely use them all before Winter ends and by Spring I will have a new boxed set for her!

Last I have these great gift bags for our neighbors. I bought a charger from the Dollar Tree and added a box of cookies and some hot chocolate. I finished it with a basket bag and festive bow. I think project cost me around $6. It's cute, festive and you really can't go wrong with cookies and hot chocolate on a cold winter night.

Do you make gifts for the holidays? What are they? Leave me a link to your blog in the comments and I will add you in an up coming blog post about more homemade gifts!