Stretching Your Laundry Detergent and Your Budget

I've made my own laundry detergent for a few years now but when I began using coupons, I was able to buy laundry detergent at a cheaper price and stocked up on it. I actually like the way my laundry recipe works on my clothes and it lasts even longer than the laundry detergent I buy out of the store. So I decided to put my already great detergent into super mode.

My recipe is pretty basic, what you'd find online pretty much anywhere - Fels Naptha Soap bar, Arm & Hammer Washing Soda (not baking soda), and Borax. I melt the soap in some water and add the soda and borax, place it into a 5 gallon pail and add water to fill. I do add some clean cotton fragrance oil to give it a nice fragrance because, without it, my clothes smell pretty blah. Once that's done, I have a pretty basic homemade laundry detergent.

Since getting a good number of Purex laundry detergent for little or nothing with my coupons, I decided to add a 33 oz bottle to my already wonderful laundry detergent and now I have a super stain removing laundry detergent. Grass stains that were once troublesome were gone! I even got the breastfed baby poop stains out of baby Cee's onesies very easily (and they can be quite stubborn stains). I suppose since Fels Naptha has a long history of it's stain fighting properties, it shouldn't have been surprising that the stains came out so well but I honestly didn't get the those particular stains out so easily until I combined both the Purex and the Fels Naptha.

Now I have 5 gallons of super charged detergent that will last me for months (even doing four to five loads daily). I've now filled the original Purex container with my mixture and use about two tablespoons per load in my front loader. (One of these days the Lord will bless us with more than one machine for all of this wonderful laundry but until then, I praise Him for the one we have now!) It's always good to find ways to stretch the precious dollars that seem to be harder to come by than they are to spend.

5 Uses for Fabric Softener Dryer Sheets

If you thought that dryer fabric softener sheets were only good for laundry, not so. As a stockpiling mom who does a minimum of four loads of laundry daily, I have a pretty nice stock of Arm & Hammer dryer sheets. However, I don't just use them for my laundry. Here are five great ways to make more use of fabric softener dryer sheets:

1. Use them to loosen up baked on food in your baking dishes. Cover the baked goo in your baking dish with water and toss a fabric softener sheet in. Let it sit for a few hours and that goo will lift right up and be ready to wash!
2. Place a couple of dryer sheets in your packed away seasonal clothing for a nice fresh scent when you go back to them.
3. Place one or two in inconspicuous places in your car. They make great air fresheners.
4. Place them in your drawers, closets, and cabinets to freshen them up a bit. (This is not a good idea for food cabinets.)
5. Place them in your husband's boots to absorb odor. Just make sure you take them out before he puts them on.

You don't have to use Arm & Hammer for this. Any dryer sheet should work just fine. If you find any other uses, let me know. I'm always looking for more ways to use these.