Shopping is not for everyone. Especially not an indecisive, frugal (I like to call it “thrifty”), mom of four. There are just too many areas as a mom that we have to consider! Shopping for clothing: should I buy a size up (for the kids – maybe me, too), should I select a color that is appealing or should I be more concerned with wear and tear? Adjustable pants or belt loops? Buttons or snaps? Socks with rubber tread or reinforced heal / toe? Is it okay to do hand-me-down underwear? And that’s just clothes – I’m not even going to get into shoes. What about food? Name brand, store brand, non-GMO, organic, locally grown, reduced sodium, sugar free, low fat, fat free, salted, unsalted, gluten free, vegan, kosher, grass fed…. Oh. Bless. It.
With all that has to be considered and decided for just that, I’m not interested in spending a lot of time on laundry detergent. Tide, Gain, Cheer, Arm & Hammer, Purex… those are just a few name brands out there. Let’s just say you’ve chosen Tide (I’ve used all the above listed and was satisfied with every purchase – I have no favorites here). Now you are tasked with choosing pods, liquid, or powder. If you’ve chosen the pods, you have narrowed your choice down to 10, liquid gives you 18 choices (there are “high efficiency” and regular), and powder narrows your search to five. Most detergents out there all offer similar obstacles for indecisive individuals like myself.
I mostly fall back on my tried and true methods: how much is it going to cost and the sniff test. Is it something that will leave my clothes smelling clean or like I rolled in the inventory of a floral shop? My husband and son probably don’t want to smell like lavender or a spring meadow. I want fresh. If the sniff test doesn’t assist me in narrowing down my choice to one (or two – I could handle two), I fall back on price. Is this going to cost me my full arm or just a digit or two? I pull out my calculator to figure out which choice will offer the cheapest per load. After doing this for more than five married years, not to mention the years before marriage doing the whole “adulting” thing, you’d think I would have my one go-to or that I would be able to do it all in my head; maybe just chuck the whole process and buy the first thing that draws my eye.
Nope! What if there’s a sale? Something that is on clearance might actually be cheaper than the norm. Maybe I need a change; I don’t want to be that predictable. Instead of fresh, maybe there’s a new enticing scent to put to the sniff test… or maybe I want to be girlie and smell like I rolled in flower petals. Maybe I’m in a disinfectant mood (when you get those notes from school that there’s been a lice outbreak, parents can go pretty crazy!). There are endless choices and I finally got to the point of wanting clean clothes, money in my pocket, and less time spent in indecision. As a side note, does anyone else get a spell of sneezes on the cleaning isle, or is it just me?
The best place I knew to start in my search for a solution was Google. Living in Alaska, everything is more expensive, so I decided to look for a DIY-er. I didn’t want to mess with chemicals that could blow my house to smithereens. As much as I love to read and write, I’m a Google “images” girl. I find a picture that shows what I’m looking for (sometimes I just don’t know until I see it) and then I visit the website. I found a recipe for laundry detergent and tweaked it to my liking. The original recipe didn’t call for as much scent crystals as I wanted – I’m all about the sniff test! So, after a little revision and buying a large enough container, I took about 10 minutes and successfully made laundry detergent! I didn’t do a whole lot of calculations beforehand, but man oh man! Super cost effective!
Spending $36.21 (before tax) and about 10 minutes grating and mixing, I came out with enough detergent for almost a year! And that’s $36.21 in Alaska! From what I’ve been reading, it’s much cheaper in other states (not sure about other countries, though). Also factor in that I have a husband and four kids (one teenager and three kids under 10) as well as a month or two of guests throughout the year. And just because I’m on a roll here, I give this as gifts for housewarming parties (about 10 loads per gift). My $36.21 purchase makes 252 extra large loads or 504 small to medium loads.
I’ve read some recipes that leave out Borax or leave out Baking Soda… some use several bars of Fels-Naptha instead of Zote, others that use Dove or Ivory bars, and there are even some recipes out there that use Tom’s or Dr. Bronner’s bar soap. Another variation is to not use the scent crystals – that I can understand. Since I’ve started making and using this, I haven’t stopped with fabric softener or dryer sheets (can’t stand the static cling, folks!), so the scent crystals, I can admit, are a little overboard (but you haven’t smelled my people, have you?).
Most of this frugal shopping, pinching pennies, came from a place of necessity. There were times that it was paycheck to paycheck, robbing Peter to pay Paul, paying bills a little late or digging real deep in the freezer for meal planning. I’m not saying that this laundry detergent recipe will solve spending problems or budget (or lack of) issues. I’m saying that every little bit helps. In all of those times of stress with coupon clipping and clearance rack digging (we didn’t buy if it wasn’t couponed or discounted – A LOT), there was a great deal of talking to God, time venting my frustrations and anxiety.
Please note that there’s a difference in talking to someone and talking with someone. When I would talk to God, I wasn’t giving Him a chance to be part of the conversation. When I started talking with God, I was taking time to also listen to what He had to say, and that proved to be the real game-changer. Some hear God speak to them, but I haven’t ever heard a voice. It’s the gentle nudges in reading the Bible where I hear God. I can read a passage in the Bible and it not jump out at me, but then I’ll read it again at another time in my life and it will leap off the page!
This happened when I went from a really great paying job that held a lot of stress and negativity to a job that paid less with a better environment. For almost a year, I was struggling with walking this verse out in my life. “Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?” Matthew 6:26-27 (NIV). Luke 12 has similar reading material that spoke just as loudly to me.
But the birds…. It plainly tells me all that I need to know. They don’t plant a garden, harvest a garden, or have a freezer to “dig deep” in. They don’t hunt for bargains or clip coupons. They don’t price compare from one chain store to the next. They are fed by our heavenly Father. Isn’t that AMAZING?! He’s not the birds’ heavenly Father; He’s OURS!
I read this passage, and the similar one in Luke, and all I can picture is my Papa. He spent his last several years watching birds. Some of my family members decided to hang birdfeeders where my Papa could sit comfortably in his chair and watch out the widow at all the different birds that would come to feast. Papa would make sure that those feeders were filled and that there was water nearby for his guests to drink and bathe. But can you guess at how full his pantry was for all the grandkids and great-grandkids?
When Papa would get the news that my daughter and I were making the two-hour drive to spend the day or weekend with him and Grandma (my aunt and uncle lived next door), he would pull out his wallet to give Grandma some “shopping” money (very old fashioned – and very sweet). Grandma would make a trip to Kroger (the local grocery store) and the fruit stand. Papa had to make sure that there was cantaloupe and honey dew melons for Sara and me. Once we arrived, we feasted on melons and Krispie Kream donuts (y’all, this all happened before my metabolism went on strike).
Papa made sure the birds had a feast, but he showed that we were much more important to him. We had his time, attention, thoughtfulness, and energy. As much as it wore him out, he would be the one to cut the melons, but my aunt or uncle would be tasked with keeping the bird feeders stocked. And he always had a hug and kiss for us. I never saw him attempt that with the birds.
God always provides. He provides us with energy to work, intelligence for specific areas of expertise, jobs that we can excel in, income that we can utilize in areas of necessity and non-essentials, and the wisdom to know the difference. And because he made us so uniquely individual, the picture of necessity and non-essential looks different for everyone (extra scent crystals or none at all?). The key to discovery on knowing the difference is talking with God and not just to God. Tell Him what you need and want (yes, there is a difference), and give Him a chance to show you His glory.
Homemade Laundry Detergent
- 1 Sterilite 20-quart lidded container (one-time purchase) $4.98
- 2 bars Zote soap (pink or white – your preference) $1.00 each
- 3 lbs OxiClean $8.36
- 4 lbs Baking Soda $2.60
- 3 lbs 7 oz Washing Soda $4.33
- 4 lbs 1 oz Borax $4.68
- 3 24 oz Scent Booster Crystals (optional) $4.56 each
Finely grate the two bars of soap (or use a food processor). Combine all ingredients together in a 20-quart lidded container (my kids like to help – wooden spoons and clean, dry hands). This makes approximately 18 pounds of laundry detergent. Use 1 TBSP per small to medium load. Use 2 TBSP for large to extra large loads (in a household of 6, my washer is always set on extra large). Safe to use in front load and top load. Also, Wal-Mart sells a “coffee” scoop that is 2 TBPS… how perfect is that?!
**All prices listed are typical in Kenai, Alaska. For budgeting purposes (if you want to purchase one or two ingredients per month), I’ve included the individual item prices.
**Note: This recipe makes approximately 504 small loads for $36.21. To compare, a popular name brand powder detergent offers 102 small loads for $18.96 (Alaska pricing). That’s 0.07 per load with this homemade detergent recipe and 0.19 per load with a name brand detergent. I’ll take the savings!