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A popular cost-cutting measure is to make homemade laundry detergent.
- How much cheaper is this compared to store-bought detergent?
- Would the savings be significant when added up over an entire year?
To calculate this, I made homemade laundry detergent according to the recipe I used (see reference 1) which contained the items below.
I listed the equipment and supplies I needed below, along with the price at which I bought them. Costs are in US dollars and include the amount of sales tax. Depending on what part of the world you live in (or even what part of the US), costs may vary. Many of these supplies were available in the dollar store, so will likely cost more elsewhere.
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Yes, you will need to get new measuring cups and a grater for this, even if you already own these for cooking. You do not want to measure borax and washing soda, nor grate Zote soap, with items that come in contact with food! I got mine from the dollar store. I recommend shopping your local dollar store or Dollar Tree for everything on the list, and trying Walmart, Target or similar discount stores for the items that weren't available at the dollar store.
Up-front costs for making homemade liquid laundry detergent
| Equipment | Price ($US) |
|---|---|
| 5 gallon pail with lid | $6.99 |
| Tall containers with lid (2 total) | $2.12 |
| Grater | $1.06 |
| Measuring cups, set | $1.06 |
| Ingredients | |
| Borax | $5.97 |
| Washing soda | $5.38 |
| Zote soap | $4.48 |
| TOTAL | $27.06 |
Total costs vs ingredient costs
So to get set up, the total cost for everything was $27.06. However, note that some of that cost was for long-lasting equipment such as the pail, homemade laundry detergent container for everyday use, etc which would all last for subsequent sessions of making homemade laundry detergent.
The ingredients which go into the laundry detergent are not completely used up in one session, except for the Zote soap. In the case of the borax and washing soda, I went on to calculate the amount actually used in one session – this worked out to be 42 cents for borax and 95 cents for the washing soda. Add that to the cost of the Zote soap at $4.48, and you get 5 gallons of concentrated homemade liquid laundry detergent for only $5.85 worth of ingredients! (Note that I didn’t include the cost of the equipment here).
1. The ingredients work out to only 3 cents per load of laundry!
How much does this work out to be per load of laundry? By knowing that only 1/2 C of the 5 gallons is actually used in one load of laundry (i.e. you are making enough for 160 loads), I calculated the cost to be only 3 cents per load! Again, this doesn’t include the cost of equipment.
2. In contrast, the cost of store-bought detergent, even for budget brands, are around 17 cents per load
I calculated the price per load of 4 major brands: All, Gain, Tide and Arm & Hammer. As well as variation between different brands, prices varied within each brand due to the store, what size of container, and so on, but basically all of these major brands were in the range of 9 cents to 21 cents per load.
Tip: the lowest priced one here turned out to be Arm & Hammer
3. Therefore, making home-made laundry detergent is about 5 times cheaper than store-bought!
By paying only 3 cents per load (not including equipment costs), homemade laundry detergent is at least 5 times cheaper than buying store-bought laundry detergent (at 17 cents a load).
What happens when we account for the extra cost of the equipment (assuming only 1 batch of homemade laundry detergent was made, ever)? This would work out to be 17 cents per load. So if you only make 1 batch ever, it's not actually any cheaper for you than buying store bought.
If you're not sure you'll make more than 1 batch, you may be better off sticking with store bought. If you're in this situation yet you want something environmentally friendly, you might like to take a look at the selection of homemade laundry detergents at Etsy, both liquid and powdered.
4. How much will you save over the course of a year?
How much you save over a year of using your own homemade liquid laundry detergent depends on how much laundry you do: the more laundry, the more you save.
Let’s assume a family of 4 doing a total of 5 loads of laundry a week (= 260 loads). The first batch of homemade laundry detergent costs you 17 cents per load (with setup/equipment costs), while future batches cost you 3 cents per load (ingredients only). By the way, the first batch will last 7 months! During the first year the homemade variety will cost around $30 (I'm not counting the leftover borax and washing soda that didn't get all used up in this first batch). Remember, this cost accounts for the cost of your equipment too. Store-bought will cost you around $44 a year. But the second or subsequent year will cost you only $7.80 per year. So you save $14 a year for the first year. Then, after the first year, subsequent years will only cost $7.80 per year. Compared to store-bought, you will save $36 a year for second or subsequent years. So, the savings are not vast over the course of a year, but they are there.
The reason the savings are lower than you might expect over the course of an entire year is because the total price of store-bought laundry detergent over a year is low to begin with. Yet, there are benefits beyond just price. It can be more eco-friendly to make your own laundry detergent because you will be re-using your plastic bottles and 5 gallon container, and there will be no chlorine or phosphates.
Regardless of what you decide about homemade laundry detergent, if you're looking for other ways to save money, I've got you covered! Here are 7 clever ways for families to save money.
Pros and cons of homemade laundry detergent
The final verdict is a mixed bag (no pun intended).
Pros
- Savings - a family doing five loads of laundry a week can expect to save $14 per year on their first year of homemade laundry detergent, and will save $36 a year on second or subsequent years. Those doing more than 5 loads of laundry each week will save even more.
- The fact of creating an environmentally friendly product without phosphates or chlorine
- Minimal packaging that can be re-used
Cons
- Takes a bit of time to make (although 1 batch lasts 7 months)
- Although you save money, it might not save you as much as you'd hoped
- If you have a small space, the need to store a 5 gallon pail somewhere can be a problem versus a smaller storebought container
Things you should think about
Some families may feel these savings are sufficient reason to switch to making homemade laundry detergent. Other families may feel that the ease of store-bought outweighs the savings. Each family has to come to its own decision.
If you don't have time to make your own homemade laundry detergent but you still want to enjoy all of the environmental benefits, why not let someone else make it? You can buy a variety of homemade laundry detergents on Etsy, powdered or liquid, from artisans who make this from their own home.
Even though the savings are not huge, I continued to make my own for many years up until recently. This was not because of the savings, but because of the fact that I liked knowing exactly what went into my own detergent. I also enjoyed not throwing away lots of plastic bottles. And also I never had to worry about running out: since a batch lasts such a long time, it’s one less thing I needed to worry about on my grocery list. Finally, it was actually pretty easy – there’s not much hands-on time needed. It’s not the right choice for everyone though, so if store bought laundry detergent is works for you, go for it. The reason I eventually switched to store bought is that there started to be eco-friendly varieties available more readily in stores and the price point of those has gone down over the last several years.
Above I have given a break down of the costs for those who are curious, so that you’ll know what to expect savings-wise. Whatever you ultimately decide, I’m glad I could help you out with this information.
Cited sources
Although the homemade laundry detergent recipe I used originally is no longer on the internet, the recipe below is almost identical - the only difference is that the recipe below uses Castile soap, whereas my recipe uses 1 bar of Zote soap instead, grated (this takes awhile!) - although you can buy Zote soap flakes if you want to avoid grating. Just be sure to use the same amount of weight in the recipe. Zote soap is a specialized laundry soap.
1. Homemade Liquid Laundry Soap at Hopewell Heights