This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Community Corner

Frugal Family: Good Clean Savings

Using a clothesline is a frugal option for drying your laundry, but what about washing your clothes?

Since many readers seemed to enjoy a past article on , here are some ideas for good clean savings on something we all deal with -- laundry.

I first heard about making your own laundry soap on the popular show, "19 Kids and Counting," and as I’ve said before, “If anyone knows how to save, it’s a family with that many kids.”

In the laundry soap aisle of the grocery store, you’ll find your necessary supplies: a bar of Fels Naptha soap, a box of Washing Soda and a box of Borax. 

Find out what's happening in South Whitehallwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

To make the soap:

* Simply grate the bar of soap into a pot containing 4 cups of water. Cover that and cook over medium-low heat until the soap is completely melted. Pour that mixture into a 5 gallon bucket and add 1 cup of the washing soda and a half cup of the borax.

Find out what's happening in South Whitehallwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

* Stir with a paint stick, or in my case, a stick blender specifically for soaping, and then fill the bucket with hot tap water to a few inches below the lip.

* Let the soap sit overnight to congeal and then mix.

This is why I love my stick blender, it makes a much easier job of this. You then fill an empty laundry detergent bottle about half full with your homemade soap and fill with tap water since it is concentrated.

Remember to shake the bottle before each use. You’ll need approximately a cup for a top-loading machine or half cup for a front loading.

I’ve been using this soap for the last two months. It does not suds-up in the washer, which concerned me, but after checking online I found that it’s not supposed to. It’s good for sensitive skin and it kept the towels from getting that musty smell after hanging in the bathroom. Usually I need to add bleach but the mild inhibiting properties of the Borax kept the towels smelling fresh.

Washing Soda and Borax are great around the house as I previously hinted at.

If you have ants in your home and don’t have to worry about small children or animals, you can leave a 1:1 mixture of Borax and sugar where you see the little visitors to take care of the problem.

Borax is also great to clean toilets. Pour a quarter cup into the toilet bowl before you go to bed and lightly scrub with a brush in the morning. It actually works rather well on rust rings too.

Baby clothes and others that have stains can be soaked in Borax, as it’s a natural alternative to color safe bleach, according to its packaging. Soak items in a mixture of a half cup of Borax in your washer or add one tablespoon to a gallon of water. A half hour later, wash as usual. 

Washing Soda is a great all purpose cleaner. Dissolve a half cup in a bucket of warm water to clean kitchen grease and other dirt and grime from surfaces other than aluminum and no-wax floors.   

You can purchase your supplies for around $10 at , though and most grocery stores will also have them in their laundry and cleaning aisle. While the bar of soap is needed each time you make a batch, the boxes of soda and Borax are enough for quite a few batches, unless you use them for other cleaning jobs like I do.

Either way you'll still spend less on cleaning supplies and go the ‘green’ route with all-natural ingredients.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?

More from South Whitehall