Feeling Pinch

I don't know if anyone else is feeling the pinch in their wallets like we are. It seems like absolutely everything on my grocery list has gone up and up and up lately. Even if its only pennies, it adds up!

I always get questions about our relatively small budget for our family of 7. My weekly "Food" budget of $100-$125 (MAX!) includes all household items and clothes too. With diapers for 2 formula for 1 taking up about $130 a month.... and then Matt & Cy to feed (ha ha ha!) anything that helps me stay under my non-negotiable budget is welcomed. I'll tell you, it has been getting harder and harder to stay under the mark. I am big on planning my shopping, so lately I have been trying to find ways cut as many costs as possible. I thought I would share one thing that has been helping.

Our Stake boundaries have been hit very hard by the economy. Elkhart county, not too far from us, I am pretty sure I heard right that it is the hardest hit county in the country. President Obama visited there very first to sell his economic plan (we won't get into my opinions on THIS right now!) But you get the idea, times are hard around here. With much discussion going on about Provident Living, a wonderful sister in our branch, Sister Bobelenyi shared something that has helped our household a lot.

Laundry! I do about 10-15 loads of laundry a week, sometimes more. Ever thought what that costs per load. Tide is about 19 cents per load and most other competitors are around 15-18 cents per load. This recipe for homemade laundry soap costs about 1.5 cent per load! I just did about 6 weeks worth of laundry for about $1!

Some may think this is corny or a little too old school, but I LOVE it and I am grateful for the help!

Here is what you need. One batch will make 2 of those 1-Gallon containers.


1/3 bar of Fels Naptha
1/2 c washing soda
1/2 c borax
Bucket that holds at least 2 gallons
pouring containers of choice (mine are just 2 1-gallon pitchers, Walmart clearance for $1)
Saucepan for soap only (you don't want to make your cooking pans filmy, I bought mine at Goodwill for $2)

Grate soap (as finely as possible, it will take much less time to melt this way) into a saucepan. Add 6 cups of water and heat it until the soap melts. Add the washing soda and borax, stir until dissolved. Remove from the heat. Pour 4 cups of Hot water into bucket. Now add your soap mixture and stir. Now add 1 gallon plus 6 cups of water and stir. Let sit for a minute to make sure it is mixed well, if not mix some more. Then pour into your gallon containers. Let sit for about 24 hours allowing it to gel. After 24 hours stir until all the gel breaks up, it will be the consistency of egg soup.

The soap is very low suds-ing so don't worry that you don't see suds. I am big on "pre-treating" tough stains so I hope you get as good results as me if you don't pre-treat!
Use 1/2c measuring cup per large load. less for smaller loads.
Makes about 64 large loads. I got more out of one batch than that because not all of my loads require a full 1/2 c.

I think it does a great job! Out test load was Matt's "planting" clothes and it got them sparkling clean with no pre-treating! Hope it helps your pockets!