Hello, lovelies! I hope you all are having a beautiful Tuesday! Today I want to share how I have embarked on a "Make Your Own" journey. I have nothing against the store bought versions of laundry detergent, cleaning supplies, and personal care items..... except for the prices. If you think about how much money you spend every year on just these few things it would probably blow your mind. In fact, let me just go ahead and do that for you. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, a family of 5 in America spent an average of $2,400 on household supplies and personal care items in 2010 (2 years ago). Crazy?! Yes.
I had never even thought about making my own supplies until a couple weeks ago when I came across some tutorials on Pinterest that actually looked really easy. So I decided to give it a shot. What could it hurt? So far my favorite website for "recipes" has been One Good Thing by Jillee. Jillee is a blogger such as myself and she is all about simple and easy ways to make your own anything.
As of now I have attempted the laundry detergent and fabric softener. I used Jillee's Rosemary Mint Fabric Softener recipe and I used Living on a Dime's recipe for the laundry detergent. I have used them for 2 weeks now and I love them both! In fact, I think I like the fabric softener better than Downy. Not kidding. So would you like to know how much money I saved? Here is the breakdown:
Laundry Detergent:
(Yield = 2 gallons / 64 loads)
Price for store bought detergent = $12.00
Price for homemade detergent = $.75
Percent of Savings = 94%
Fabric Softener:
(Yield = 88 ounces / 105 loads)
Price for store bought softener = $10.00
Price for homemade softener = $3.00
Percent of Savings = 70%
Umm, how cool is that?! Let's just say I'm hooked. I mean who doesn't like to save that much money? This is almost better than couponing! I can't wait to try more recipes. Jillee has everything on her blog from homemade Oxi-Clean to body wash, and there are tons of other blogs or websites out there with recipes for every kind of household cleaner you can think of.
So I'll plan on being the guinee pig for all you people that are still afraid to take the leap. Hehe! Let me know if there is something specific you want me to try to make! I would love your feedback on this especially if you have already made any of your own supplies and have a recipe to share. If you are one of the brave ones and want to give it a shot then you should check out my "Make Your Own" Pinterest board HERE. I have lots of stuff pinned on there that I plan to try myself.
-Hannah-
Hi Hannah--I have a question about the laundry soap. Since you have tried this already, how do you find it working with whites and any stains. Do you find the white's just as white as the store bought brands and/do you find it works well with stains? I tried a home-made recipe that was provided on getting old stains out. I found it didn't work well on clothing but it worked fabulous on carpet. We had a small area where John had sat some trash (he won't admit to doing lol) and we had tried everything. The home-made stain remover worked wonders and the stain is now gone (yeah). Just let me know. Thanks so much and congratulations on your One (1) year Blog Anniversary. Kathy Wiegand
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