Homemade Laundry Detergent …The Benefits

This is a follow up post regarding the many advantages associated with Homemade Laundry Detergent.  This broader review is provided for your benefit.

I recently spent several hours, literally, limping (sometimes I forget that I’m handicapped) around Lexington, Kentucky in search of the best available price listings for laundry detergents in the market place …Here, I have listed a few:

At Wal-Mart:

136 ounces of Gain is advertised to wash 120 loads and costs about $15.87 with a 6% sales tax included.     Cost per load … 15.87/120 = 13 Cents if use 1.333 ounces per load … (136 oz. / 120 loads = 1.333).

160 ounces of Surf is advertised to wash 120 loads and costs about $11.63 with a 6% sales tax included.      Cost per load … 11.63/120 = 10 Cents per load if you use 1.333 ounces per load … (160 oz. / 120 loads = 1.333)

At Dollar General:

91 ounces of ‘Gain’ is advertised to wash 80 loads and costs about $12.62 including a 6% sales tax.          Cost per load … 12.62/80 = 16 Cents if you use 1.137 ounces per load … (91 oz. / 80 loads = 1.137)

77 ounces of ‘Tide’ is advertised to wash 55 loads and costs about $12.62 including a 6% sales tax.    Cost per load … 12.62/55 = 23 Cents if you use 1.4000 ounces per load (77 oz. / 55 loads = 1.4000 oz.)

137 ounces of ‘Era’ is advertised to wash 120 loads and costs with the 6%  tax, $11.66.          Cost per load … 120/11.66 = 10 Cents if you use 1.141 ounces per load (137 oz. / 120 loads = 1.141 oz.)

As I’ve shown above, all of the laundry detergent makers advertise that you can wash X number of loads if you use their product which is a great selling concept … for example the 77 ounce box of Tide at The Dollar Store looks like a decent deal but in order to wash the 55 loads they advertise, you must not use more than 1.4 ounces of detergent per load! All of the others require you to use even less detergent to reach the number of advertised loads.

Here’s the rub …If they are so sure that this small amount of detergent is all that you need to clean your clothes … why do you suppose each of them places a 4 to 8 ounce scoop or shovel inside the box (obviously placed there as a convenient method for dipping huge amounts of detergent from the box). The scoop is clearly intended to give the person using the product the perception that the suggested 1.4 ounces, etc. is not even close to enough to get your clothes clean; most folks don’t ever think about it.  But that same 77 ounce box of Tide is suddenly reduced to cleaning less than 20 loads when the 4 ounce shovel is utilized.  Keep in mind, the total cost, with the 6% tax included,  equals $12.62 … Divide that by the number of loads you actually get when using the “free” shovel (19.25); and the cost per load jumps to more than 60 Cents per load. Now, consider that many people will put two “shovels” or scoops full in dirtier  laundry loads thus hiking the price per load up to a hefty $1.20 per load. At first glance, it may not seem like a lot but once you start paying attention to how much detergent you are actually using, you soon realize you are spending much more than you thought.  

So why use Homemade “low / No Suds” Laundry Detergent?

1.     It’s a lot cheaper… (From 50% to as much as 600%)

2.     It’s environmentally friendly… (Septic systems; leach beds, etc.)

3.     It’s non allergenic (A lot of people are allergic to the chemicals used in commercial laundry detergents… (Has a fresh washed shirt ever caused you to itch?)

4.     A natural water softener is a major part of the ingredients…(just in case you have hard water)

5.     A natural brightener is also a component part of the detergent… (no dingy whites with this stuff)

6.     You should also know that even though this product is highly concentrated, most of the suds have been removed because they are useless in the cleaning process in the first place…Commercial laundry detergents add chemical agents to the mix   which may be harmful to your health.
    The fact that homemade detergents do not suds  is good news for the HE (High Efficiency) washing machine uses out there because they recommend / require low suds to clean properly.

If you can find the time to have a look see at my previous blog post, Homemade Laundry Detergent Recipe, there you will see a typical recipe for Homemade Laundry Detergent.  As you can probably guess, this topic / product is kind of an “issue” with me; I think because I firmly believe the marketing program for all of the available products, ranging from Era to Gain, is so very deceptive. I strongly suspect this is being done by “locking on to” or ‘playing upon” out normal perceptions.  In other words, it's very clear that such marketers think a lot of us (including me) are simply stupid.

Well, in this particular instance at least (such occasions are few and far between) each of us are certainly capable of doing something about it!  I have concocted my very own recipe and I’m happy to say the results have been very good indeed.

I may even offer my very own product to the market place if I can figure a way to keep shipping costs at a minimum.

Sources …

http://www.soap-flakes.com/recipes.html ...

http://www.buy.com/pr/product.aspx?sku=205676200

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sodium_carbonate ...

http://www.buy.com/prod/arm-hammer-super-washing-soda-detergent-booster-55-oz/q/sellerid/28612218/loc/66357/215956159.html ...

http://amplifiedgreen.wordpress.com/2008/02/19/ultimate-guide-to-making-your-own-eco-friendly-washing-powder/

http://www.instructables.com/id/Homemade-Laundry-Detergent/

Lexington, Ky. Dollar General Store

Lexington, Ky. Wal-mart Supper Store