Charlie's Laundry Soap - Day 1

 

I am always looking to save money. It's a sign of times, but I think it's also in the genes, lol.

My latest endeavor has been to find a cheaper way of cleaning clothes that did not exacerbate the  household's allergies and skin sensitivities.

I had tried Soap Nuts that I had purchased from the Amish general store called Lehman's (who, by the way, could use your business as they were freakishly flooded in the last month or so-online stores are open and I don't get anything from you buying), but my son's eczema came back and that was the only thing that I could think of that had changed. I switched back to the All Free & Clear and the eczema went away, so I'm thinking that was probably it. There are those who swear by the Soap Nuts, but they are not the answer for us. Your mileage may vary. :)

In the past, I have tried making my own laundry soap. I have tried the kind you heat on the stove and I have tried the powdered kind. For one thing, I can't handle the scent in the soaps meant for laundry soap (Fels Naptha and Zote) and when I used Ivory, I wasn't thrilled with the results in our hard water. Again, your mileage may vary. A friend of mine in this same area has great luck with it.

So, I finally came across Charlie's Soap.  I was a little turned off by the price of the little bags online(plus shipping) and didn't want to commit to a 1000 load bucket and find it didn't work for me. No savings there.

An online acquaintance was nice enough to dole some out for me to try for a few weeks.

I have found my new laundry soap! It cleans as well as, if not better than, the All F&C and the Purex F&C that I've been using, leaves no scent behind(I am the rare bird that can't stand fragranced clothes), AND did not exacerbate my son's eczema.


My most recent purchase of All F&C was at a Family Dollar, where the 32-load bottle was on sale for $4. That works out to about $.13/ load.

The Charlie's Soap I recently purchased on Amazon was $97.50 for 1000 loads, which works out to $.10/load.

Today is Day 1 of using it. I'm noting that here because that way I won't lose my note of it somewhere in my piles of notes to myself. And if the unthinkable happens and technology goes the way of the mastadon, I figure saving money on laundry soap will be the least of my worries. ;)


Rather than keeping the honking bucket in my laundry room/bathroom, I am reusing a Yankee Candle jar (from the good ol' days when I burned those regularly) and 32 loads fit perfectly in the jar. See the top of the rectangle I drew around my label? That's the line to refill later rather than counting 32 scoops.  The jar looks cute and fits better in my cupboard than the detergent bottles.

No more trips to the store for more laundry detergent (and accompanying unplanned impulse buys).

And no more detergent bottles to mess with recycling!

Here's a pic of my revamped laundry shelf (still trying to find the perfect thing for spot treatments...):

Man, I'm feeling GREEN today!

Welcome to my blog!

I figure I should start off my blog with a proper introduction.

I am a stay-at-home wife and mother of 3 kids. I am originally from Colorado, but have been transplanted to Northwest Ohio where my husband's family resides. We are currently living in the old homestead(est. a bit before 1900, I believe) on part of the acreage his grandpa grew up in and have been attempting to live the simple life here--no easy task!

We have been playing with organic/natural gardening the last 6 or so years, as well as simple animal husbandry(specifically chickens). I have created an herb garden as well that continues year to year.

Since the birth of our third child, my allergies that once presented themselves as mere hayfever decided to move over into the realm of foods and it got to the point that every time I ate I had some sort of reaction. I plan on sharing that journey here as well.

As the oldest of five children raised on a single income, I was raised by a very frugal stay-at-home mother and hard-working dad. I am quite thankful for that in the current economic times and am always looking for ways to save money. I will share what I do in that regard as well.

Thanks for coming, and I hope to share my knowledge with you in the future! :)