Saving the Almighty Dollar!

So, in the pursuit of saving money, I have been trying different homemade soaps over the last few days. Actually, if I am honest, I have been reading about it and the process fastinates me, so that’s really why I am doing it! So far, I have made two different soaps. A laundry soap and a dish soap. It’s been fun, and quite interesting!

I did the Basic Soap recipe from this site. It was quite easy to make, and I got a kick out of grating and melting the soap! I used a bit of lemon juice as water for this recipe as I love that the lemon juice cuts grease. However, the next day, I noticed it wasn’t “gelling” at all. The day after, it was one huge lump of soap! You couldn’t even squeeze it out of the bottle it was so solid. Also, I noticed that when I am around this soap, my asthma kicks up. I used grated Ivory as the bar soap, so that may be why. I seem to remember, way back in my childhood feeling kinda “funny” after I used Ivory. I remember feeling like it was hard to breath. I didn’t know I had asthma at the time. So, it may be the Ivory…but I have no actual “scientific” proof of it. So, I am still looking around for a new recipe.

The laundry soap I got from somewhere in internet world and forgot to bookmark it. I used liquid Castile soap, water (duh) borax, and washing soda. No, I don’t remember the measurements! The soap didn’t gel at all, but maybe it will soon? I am thinking the fact that I didn’t let it set overnight might be one of the problems. Anyway, it seems to be doing a good job on my clothes. They are coming out clean, and smell like clean clothes. I put vinegar in my fabric softener dispenser so the clothes are softer. I did this for a long time, but had to stop when I switched to a laundry soap that had color safe bleach in it. I noticed that the mildewey smell that my front load washer has been plagued with came back quickly after I quit using the vinegar.

I’m having fun with this. It may take some time before I find exactly what I want, but hey, why not right?

I’ll see if I can find the laundry recipe I used…it may be lost forever!