Update..

Today I am going to update on the use of the homemade detergent venture we have been on at my house.  So far we have tried the laundry detergent, cloth diaper detergent, and the dishwasher detergent.  All of them have worked wonderful!!

The laundry detergent on our clothes is great!  They came out clean and smelling fresh.  The cloth diaper detergent (which essentially is the laundry detergent), works awesome!  The diapers are smelling good and looking good!  I also think it does a better job than the stuff I regularly use, which is like $15.

The dishwasher detergent we have only used once, but it did a fantastic job!!  We have a new-ish dishwasher, its about 3 years old.  We made sure to fill the rinse agent with vinegar, so our dishes were sparkling clean!

I am so excited about how much this will be saving us!  I am not very good with math or numbers so I am going to just make an estimate on the cost savings here.  For our laundry detergent we usually buy the cheap stuff anyway, which is about $8.00 for a 160 loads so that comes out to about $.20/load, so not too bad.  For my cloth diaper detergent that I bought it was about $15 for about 75 loads, so that comes out to about $.5/load, once again not too bad.  For the dishwasher detergent its about $6.00 for 40 loads so that comes out to $.6/load.  Once again not that bad.  Total cost per month for all of these items is about $15 or $180/year, because we only buy the cloth diaper detergent once every other month and same with the dishwasher detergent.

BUT in contrast for the homemade detergents I spent a total of $8.69 so about $9 with tax.  Because the recipes only call for 1 or 2 cups of each, I will not need to repurchase these for quite a while.  The only item I will need to purchase more often is the Fels Naptha soap which is only $.97.  So to divide this up over a year I am estimating the cost to be only about $20/year, I am guessing that I will only buy the items 2 times a year (maybe 3).  Even buying the major items which are about $6 total three times a year that is only $18 a year!!

Ok so now lets do the major math.... $180 or $20!!  Lets choose!!   I am so excited about these numbers!!

Having done the research about the laundry and dish detergents it got me thinking about other ways I could save tons of money.  I came to the conclusion that I could save money by making my own baby wipes!  So that led me to some great recipes for wipes solutions.  This is what I came up with:

Basic Wipes Solution:

1/2 cup baby oil

1/2 cup baby wash

2 cups water

So there are two different ways to do homemade wipes, you can either place the wipes in a container and pour the solution over them.  Or you can also put the solution in a spray bottle and then wet the wipes with warm water before using them and then spray the solution on the wipes.  I think I am going to use the spray bottle method, because if you pour it over the wipes you will need to change them out every day to avoid mildew.

Below are the steps I took in making my own cloth wipes.

Supplies:  Towel, Ruler, Scissors

Cut into 8 x 12 rectangles

Put machine on zig zag sticth

Zig Zag stitch along outside edge

 

Finished product!

 I am a decent sewer so this was not too far fetched for me.  Even if you are not a proficient sewer these would be a great first project because its just straight stitching and super easy!!  I found a great idea, to use an old t-shirt and a receiving blanket.  You cut each into an 8 x8 square (which is a standard size to fit into a wipes container), you can also do an 8x 12 for bigger, messier jobs.  I am also going to use some flannel to make some wipes, because that is what I have laying around.  I was also given an idea to use an old bath towel.  For all of these I will be doing a zig zag stitch around the edges and tadaa, wipes!! 

Sorry this post got a little lengthy, but I think I shared some great info!!  I am so excited about these new ways to save money and I wanted to share them!

**Recent Update- As of January 17, 2012
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