I’ve been trying to take yesterday’s post to heart and start doing the things I’ve always said I’d do when I was a stay at home mom (SAHM).

There’s a running joke between my sister and me right now.

Remember Allison Hannigan’s famous quote in America Pie, “This one time at band camp…”

Here’s a clip :)

Ok, so lately I find myself saying, “When I’m not working full time, I’m going to…”

My sister is relentlessly teasing me by retorting, “This one time when I’m a stay at home mom…”

Bwahahaha!

I’m compiling quite a list of things I plan to do this summer, and I’m also realizing that I won’t make these things a priority then if I don’t consider them important enough to do now.

One such thing is homemade laundry soap!

Here I go getting all Laura Ingalls on you again…

But seriously, laundry detergent is expensive and usually full of irritating fragrances that really aren’t good for us.

The alternative to dropping a bunch of cash on a giant box of regular detergent is making your own at home!

I got this recipe from The Family Homestead and when she did the math, this detergent breaks down to about $.01 per load!

A freaking penny!

That’s good stuff right there.

I’ve read about making your own detergent at home before, but there was always something holding me back.

A five gallon bucket.

Seriously, that’s it.  A measly bucket.

Well, that and the fact you have to shave a bar of soap and boil it.  Cheese graters and I don’t get along well.

Exhibit A – Cheese grater shaped scar on my thumb.

Let’s just hope no one’s nachos had a little “something extra” that night.

Moving right along…

I don’t have a nice, clean five-gallon bucket with a lid laying around.  I have 3 dirty, cracked, lid-less ones floating around my garage.

And I hate cheese graters.

You can imagine my joy when I learned that you can make powdered detergent!

Just 3 simple ingredients:

1. Borax (a naturally occurring mineral: Sodium Borate)
2. Washing Soda (NOT the same as baking soda, but also made by Arm & Hammer)
3. Old fashioned bar soap (Fels-Naptha or Ivory)

I made a double batch and it easily fit into the empty arborio rice container that resulted from tonight’s dinner (Vegetable Paella – recipe coming soon!).

Here’s the recipe for a single batch of detergent:

1/2 cup borax
1/2 cup washing soda
1/3 bar Fels-Naptha – or – 1 full bar Ivory soap, grated

The way around having to use a cheese grater and a bunch of elbow grease?

Your food processor!

Just fit it with the grater attachment and voila!  No sweating, tired arm or fear of blood.  Just lovely soap shreds :)

It’s a pretty simple process really.  Just grate the appropriate amount of soap (depending on the brand you choose), add the borax and washing soda and give it a good shake.

Here’s proof that a double batch really fits into a 36oz rice container.

I think it would be fun to create a cute label to cover up the existing rice labels.  Something vintage maybe?

Please pardon my very rough photo editing skills!

That’s all there is to it.  Just use about 1 tablespoon for a medium sized load (double that for x-large loads) and save all the money you’re not spending on laundry detergent to buy a new pair of shoes.

Or something more responsible.

Whatever :)