So the laundry detergent Tide has become a popular target for thieves. Who knew? Seems to me that Tide’s neon orange bottle would be hard to hide, but apparently people are making Tide disappear quite easily, even stealing multiple bottles at a time.
My favorite part of the article describing this trend is the quote from the manufacturer:
“We don’t have any insight as to why the phenomenon is happening, but it is certainly unfortunate,” said Sarah Pasquinucci, a spokeswoman for Procter & Gamble.
Guess I’ll have to clue P&G in so they can solve this mystery: You charge too much for Tide! No one likes spending $10 or more on a bottle of laundry detergent. Hence the increase in theft and the use of Tide as payment for drugs and other illegal activities.
Those of us who aren’t inclined to steal have a different reaction to the ever-increasing price of detergent: we’re making our own. And it turns out that it not only saves us a bundle, but it’s healthier for our families because it doesn’t have all those unpronounceable chemicals in it.
A quick search for “homemade laundry detergent” will net you an amazing number of results on the search engine of your choice. I like this one.
I’ve been making my own liquid laundry detergent for a few years now and love it. Recently I began making powdered detergent in my food processor and I like that, too: now I use liquid for cold water loads and powder for warm/hot water loads. My current homemade powdered detergent is lavender-scented. It makes me smile every time I use it. And now that it’s warm enough to hang out the wash, my laundry joy is complete. Take that, Procter & Gamble!
What do you use to scent your soap lavender?
Or we buy store brands or Aldi brands that do the same job cleaning for a fraction of the cost of name brands! :^)
Keane, I grated a bar of Yardley lavender soap into my latest batch of powdered detergent, and added a few drops of lavender essential oil before blending the soap with the other ingredients.
Tina, I used to do that too, but they often contain ingredients that cause skin irritation (one of my teens has chemical sensitivities) so I had to give them up. Plus the homemade version is literally pennies per use, so its even cheaper than the cheap stuff! 🙂
I’ve been making ours for just over a year now and I can not believe how much cheaper it is! If I can find the Ivory on sale with a coupon, I can make mine for under a dollar a gallon (well, actually I reused a huge laundry detergent bottle and add more water than I’m “supposed to” and it works just as well).
Our youngest had really rough dry skin that the ped. just said to slather her in thick lotion for. Frankly, the brand he suggested had so many chemicals it didn’t really help so I cut fabric softener totally and started making our own detergent and her skin issues cleared right up, and so did some of her respiratory allergies.
And I didn’t know you could use Yardley soap. I’ll have to remember that. I know people who buy the scented castille soap, but I don’t put out the money for that. I’ll have to watch as coupons for Yardley come along and try that!
Yes, making homemade laundry detergent has saved us a nice bundle of money over the course of the past 2.5 years that I’ve been making it! Nice blog post! 🙂
Crissyanna, I’m glad your daughter is doing better. I switched from fabric softener to diluted vinegar a few years ago and haven’t missed it. As for Yardley, it’s not the purest soap in the world but I can get it on sale cheap and it doesn’t seem to bother anyone’s skin here. I do have a bar of pricier castile from Trader Joe’s waiting for the next time I make detergent. I want to see if it works any better (or not).
Thanks, Shannon. Wish I’d known about homemade laundry detergent 30 years ago (before our four kids were born). Just think of the money we would have saved!