~Saving Money~

The new year is fast approaching..  and I am NOT ready! One of our goals for the year is reducing/eliminating our debt. We have been following the Dave Ramsey plan (although I haven't been very good lately) and it is working, slowly but surely. We could probably do it a little faster if I were working outside the home, but neither my husband or I think putting the kids in daycare for me to work is worth the financial benefit and the loss of being with the kids all day would be very hard on all of us, just not worth it right now.  So I do my best to save in ways I can, and no not just clipping coupons! Thought I would share them over the next couple weeks as some of us prep for new years resolutions! I've posted about some of those ways before but some are new and I don't want anyone to miss the old ones either!

So I'll start with the first way I started making a change at home to save money. It was Homemade Laundry Soap, that was my first time making it and I messed it up so it doesn't look right. That was almost 2 years ago and I have only had to make 1 batch since and that was just recently. I think that the 10 Gallons lasts me about 18 months!! Which is amazing considering the cost for making it the first time was

Bucket $6 (I think), Zote Soap $1, Washing Soda $3, Borax $3

Total of $13 for the first time supplies (the borax, washing soda and bucket will be re-used) I try to gage a savings by per use, per pound or ounce, whatever I can break it down to. I do an average of 5 loads a week for 18 months is about 78 weeks, 78 weeks worth of loads is 390 loads!! Compared to the tide HE, Free and clear that gets 64 loads for $14. The price per load for tide is about 22 cents a load. For the homemade (also for the He and unscented) is 3 cents per load, the first batch! The second batch when you don't have to buy the bucket or washing soda or borax is only an extra dollar for zote, the price for those loads is less then a penny per load!

I figured the 3 year savings (2 batches) is HUGE since the average is just over a penny per load. If I used tide for those 780 loads in 3 years it would have cost us $171!! I could easily pay off my Gymboree credit card with that! So even though it was really a very small change for us, over time it will REALLY save, and it requires no more effort than loading the tide bottle in and out of the grocery cart and car every month. 

The recipe is on the original post, but remember I messed it up, so yours SHOULDN'T look like that, It should look like this!