Homemade Ivory Soap Laundry Powder

{If you can, please scroll all the way to the bottom to read a little “p.s.” about this post from me, okay?  Thanks!}

 

You guys. 

This laundry powder (aka detergent, but that was obvious, right?) is soooo easy to make.  When I say 5 minutes, I literally mean 5 minutes from the time it takes to get the ingredients together, measure them, and put them into your jar.  I timed myself.  Seriously!

 

 

I went to a seminar in the spring at a local health food co-op about how to make your own laundry soap.  The presenter used 3 ingredients – Dr. Brommer’s Soap, Washing Soda, and Baking Soda.  I tried it that way at home, and it turned out great.  I used the almond scent (my fave!) and it smelled deeeelish. 

Except….Dr. Brommer’s bar soap, while awesome, is $3.99 a bar.  Plus you still have to buy the other two ingredients.  I’m sorry, I love our planet tons, but if I can easily get regular old detergent for $1.99 on sale at the grocery store, the price is going to win out for my family. 

Enter…Ivory soap.  This is the soap I used growing up, and we still use it in our house now.  It regularly goes on sale at my local grocery stores, it’s super cheap, PLUS there are frequently coupons for it in the paper.  I’ve gotten it for free or close to free many times before.  It’s unscented and super mild, so I knew it would be safe for my kids’ clothes. 

 

And it works great! 

Here’s how you do it:

First, grate your soap.  Seriously, this took me less than 2 minutes.  I timed myself.  Watch a YouTube video while you do it if you really need some incentive. 

 

 

 

Just make sure if you leave it on the counter nobody in your house mistakes it for shredded coconut.  lol

 

 

 

Then, measure your baking soda and washing soda (you’ll need 1/2 C of each). 

 

 

Add your baking and washing soda mixture to your shredded soap.  I like to dump everything into a gallon-size ziploc to mix it all in and shake it around. 

 

 

 

Then pour it all into a jar (or you could totally just leave it in the bag, if you prefer!).  I like to keep mine in a mason jar.  I have a thing for those vintage zinc lids! 

 

 

That’s IT! You’re finished! And you may or may not feel very accomplished and a little like Laura Ingalls.  Or maybe that’s just me.  lol

 

Here’s the “technical” recipe:

1 bar of Ivory soap, grated
1/2 C of washing soda
1/2 C of baking soda

Add 1 T to a full load of laundry (modify more or less for smaller loads or heavily soiled loads).   **I doubled the recipe for myself, so your mason jar will not be as full as mine if you follow this recipe as-is.*

 

Helpful hints:

- I like to start my washer and then sprinkle in the powder as the water starts, in order to help it dissolve a little. Then I add my clothes.

- I wash all of my kids’ clothes and some of my clothes on gentle cycle.  Occasionally on gentle cycle I will notice a flake or two here and there of Ivory that hasn’t dissolved after the cycle has completed.  Just flick it off – no biggie!

- I continue to use Shout as spot treatment for stains (I’ve always done that).  As long as I do that for tough stains like food from my kids, this detergent woks just as well as any other detergent I’ve tried!  I made sure to test it thoroughly before sharing with all of you.  :)

 

So, there you go!  A super cheap, clean, much-more-environmentally-friendly method of cleaning your clothes.  If you try it be sure and let me know how it works for you! :)

 

-----

Okay, so on to my little “p.s.” You might notice that every so often I’m going to have pictures up on my blog that have text on them.  Aka “The Pinterest-Worthy Pictures.”  Unless you’ve been off Pinterest for a while, you’re probably well aware that the site is FULL of pictures like this.  It’s a little obnoxious, I’ll admit it.  And sometimes super annoying.  (Aka a blogger I really like once had a picture of her son’s face and text around him saying something like, “How to talk to your kids about s-x.”  Really?!  You want that picture of your son with those words going around the internet?  So yes, people take it a little far.  I will 100% agree with that. 

BUT.  This blog makes my family a {small!} amount of side income, thanks to the ads on the side.  I am soooo grateful to God for allowing this little bit of money to come in to help us out as a one-income household.  So I figured why fight Pinterest – just embrace it.  Kinda like pointed-toe shoes in college.  I swore I would never own a pair because they looked like witch shoes, but lo and behold I caved and my short little legs had never looked longer or better.  I ended up with multiple pairs.  But I digress.  haha!

Anyway, these Made-for-Pinterest photos aren’t going away, so I’m going with it.  I’m trying out posts here and there to see how they do in the Pinterest world.  So if you see one from me every now and then, you have every right in the world to roll your eyes and refuse to click through.  Or you can {bless your little heart} use the “Pin-It” button that hovers over my pictures, and bring it to the big wide world of Pinterest.  But just know that I’m just a stay-at-home mom of two trying to make a few extra dollars for my family and trying my hardest NOT to annoy anyone in the process.  Really. :)

 

Okay, I hope that all made sense!  Thanks for sticking with me! :)

Getting Mold Out of the Shower–Before & After

EDIT:  This post, which started out with about 6 comments from my followers when first posted back in 2012, has now gone viral on Pinterest - as of 2/24/16 it has received well over 5 million views! Insanity.  Clearly I am NOT alone in my quest to get rid of the moldy grout. :)  I simply shared my story of removing my nasty, embarrassing mold from my window-less bathroom.  I am not a contractor, a plumber, or any kind of house expert.  I'm just a stay-at-home-mom with a mold problem in her shower that wanted to get rid of it before her mother-in-law came to visit. :)  I used to respond to comments on this post, but there are simply too many for me to keep up with.  Using bleach is not for everyone, so I encourage you to make your own decision about whether this will work in your house - I simply shared what worked for me.  Thank you for stopping by and I hope you'll poke around This Blessed Life a little while you are here!  Have a great day. :)

{And as a VERY important disclaimer....if you have old caulking, like I did, REPLACE IT! We have since replaced ours since I wrote this post years ago.  Using the bleach is a temporary solution, but I highly recommend replacing it or hiring a professional so that you don't have water come through behind your shower wall!} 

---------------------

I’m lowering my pride today and showing you something only because I think it will help others in my predicament. 

Okay, are you with me? :)

When we first moved into our new house last May, the shower was pristine.  The woman who lived here had 5 little boys, was pregnant with the 6th, homeschooled, and the house was always ridiculously clean and uncluttered.  I can’t decide if she was crazy or superwoman – or maybe a touch of both. :)

Anyway, over about 6 months, mold started to creep in on the grout along the shower.  It kept spreading and spreading, and there was really nothing I could do because my husband told me not to scrub too hard or else the grout would disappear and then we’ve have mold inside the walls and then we’d have real problems, not just cosmetic ones. 

Then one day while browsing Pinterest I came across a post that showed how to get rid of shower mold with just two simple items: bleach and cotton beauty coils, used for perms.  (I am SO sorry to the smart person behind this idea but I do not have the original link – I also apologize for how dark these photos are but our bathroom doesn’t have a window.)

So I went to Sally’s Beauty supply and picked up a package. I’m pretty sure it was only $1.99 – and I already had bleach, obviously, so this project only cost $2! Whoo hoo!

Here is the before shot (barf - remember, our bathroom has no window since it's in the interior of our house, so it's pretty dark in there and it's not like sunlight can beam into the shower all day long):

I cut a piece of the cotton coil, soaked it in bleach, and let it sit overnight on the mold.  (Tip: I put a disposable pie pan in the tub, poured the bleach in the pan, then soaked the cotton in there before transferring it to the mold – helps with the dripping!  Then I just used a q-tip to press it into the mold so I wouldn’t get bleach on my fingers):

Look at the difference just on that little bit!  Isn’t that incredible?!

And here’s a picture after I was finished - I ran the fan ALL NIGHT LONG to ventilate:

A-mazing!!  I did this almost two months ago, and the mold has not returned – but it’s so awesome to know that if it does, I know what to do now!

Hopefully this helps someone else out there who just can’t get rid of the mold in their own shower.  Don’t judge me too harshly – I promise I really do keep a clean house otherwise! Although seeing these pictures makes me realize that the walls of my shower could really use a good scrubbing.  This is the trouble with a bathroom that doesn’t have a window in it – you don’t see things very clearly.  Okay, I guess I know what my next project is! lol

Linking up to: Homemaker’s Challenge