This was the year I learned how to Make My Own Laundry Soap.  It was an experience that put me out of my comfort zone at first.  Was I risking ruining my clothes just to save some money?    Was it worth the time and effort?

Yes, It’s Worth It!
So far I haven’t ruined any clothes and I would say that, YES, it is definitely worth what little time and effort it takes to  make a batch.  Cooking up a batch only costs a little over $1.00.  It takes me about a half an hour at the most to make a batch and my first batch lasted for close to three months.  My goal for the upcoming year is to use the homemade laundry detergent for all loads of laundry and to only use the store bought soap for pretreating stains.

So what will my cost savings be in 2011 if I continue to Make My Own Laundry Soap?  Let’s take a look.

Cost Calculations for the Upcoming Year

Homemade Liquid Soap: My first batch of soap cost $1.06 to make.  I’m going to generously estimate that I will need to make five batches of soap this year.   
Cost:  $5.30

Pretreating:  I also like to keep a bottle of the Arm & Hammer liquid soap on hand for pretreating.  I’m going to estimate that one 68.75 oz bottle will get me through the year if I’m only using it to pretreat. The bottle I’m using now is almost gone and I have another one waiting to use in the upcoming year that I bought on sale.   

Cost:  $1.99

Oxi Clean:  I found that supplementing my white load with a little scoop of Oxi Clean has been helpful.  I think the cost for the 24 oz Oxi Clean I bought was $3.50, however, I bought it with my Register Rewards from Walgreens so it kind of felt like it was free  :)   I still have half a can left to use in the new year.  Here again I’ll be generous and say I need to buy two more cans of Oxi Clean.   

Cost:  $7.00

Homemade Powdered Soap: My 23 year old son who is at home with us is supposed to be doing is own laundry, but getting him to do that is a bit like trying to herd cats.   Nevertheless, when he does finally get around to doing his loads, he prefers the dry powdered mix of homemade laundry soap that I made.  The cost for my dry recipe (if I use Ivory bar soap) is $2.12.  I’ll estimate that I might make two more batches of the dry homemade laundry soap this year.

Cost:  $4.24

Putting It All Together
So how does it all add up for the upcoming year?

Homemade Liquid Laundry Soap:  $5.30
Liquid Soap for Pretreating:  $1.99
Oxi Clean for whites:   $7.00
Homemade Dry Laundry Soap:  $4.24

My Estimate for Total Laundry Soap Cost in 2011:   $18.53

So What’s The Cost Per Load?
Let’s break it down just a little bit further.  I’m going to estimate I do 10 loads of laundry a week. Once again, I think I’m estimating a little bit high.  This equals 520 loads per year.

Cost Per Load:   3 cents !!

The Final Comparison:
I did a quick look online at the website for my favorite grocery store, Meijer.  Their cost for a 150 oz bottle of Tide HE Laundry Soap is $19.99.  The bottle says it does 96 loads.

Tide Cost Per Load:   20 cents  (per year $104.00)

This is over $85.00 in savings per year.  Yay!  (And I really think I’ve estimated my usgage on the high side - I think my annual costs will actually be lower)  If you’re not using Oxi Clean like I am you can bring your costs down even further, maybe to just a penny per load!

Do You Want To Save Too?
If you’re new to the whole idea of making your own laundry soap and want to get started, here’s the link to my original post on homemade laundry soap which includes two recipes:
Homemade Laundry Soap: What You Need to Know – Plus 2 Recipes

I’m excited to see if I can keep my costs down in the year ahead. Let’s all save money!

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