I make washing powder out of conkers – it’s totally free and my clothes have never been cleaner
IT’S not secret that laundry powder can be pricey, especially if you’ve got kids and use your washing machine a lot.
But one savvy mum has revealed how she saves money by making her own with an unusual ingredient.
Kara Woodhouse, 29, shared the tip on social media and says that anyone with access to a horse chestnut tree can save money on their washing powder.
The mum-of-two collects the conkers from September to December, which she uses to make laundry detergent throughout the year.
Kara, who lives in Cambridge, would normal approximately spend £30 every two weeks on washing products which means she saves up to £60 a month.
In a video she shared on TikTok Kara showed her children Loui, four, and Connie, three, getting involved in the production of the DIY washing powder.
The key ingredient in the conkers is saponins – a cleansing chemical used by the horse chestnut seed to deter pesky insects.
Kara said: “I saw a video last year about how conkers hold saponins like washing detergent, so I looked into Google to see how it worked.”
To make the detergent, the stay-at-home mum bashes the conkers with a hammer and then adds boiling water on top of them in a heat-safe glass jar.
After she let it rest for 30 minutes, she strains the liquid out into another jar and store in the fridge until needed.
Kara was inspired to make her own natural detergent after her son Loui, who suffers from eczema, reacted badly to store-bought options.
She said: “My son has bad eczema so I would normally use washing detergent aimed for babies.
“But when I saw the conkers thing, I thought well it’s natural so it’s worth a try and thankfully it helped a lot.”
When it’s time to use the detergent, the mum said she uses the same amount as she would a normal detergent.
She explained: “When it’s watered down and more diluted I do tend to put a little bit more than the cap-full in.”
It turns out Kara isn’t the only cleaning whizz who swears by the bargain trick.
“I make this each year, you can break up the conkers and dry them out to save until needed, I aways remove the skins,” one commented on her post.
“Freeze the conkers, they will last you about a year and you can use them as and when you need to,” another wrote,
And someone else said: “You can also just break them up and put them inside a little mesh bag and put them straight in your washing.”