Homemade laundry detergent supplies getting more scarce?

It is cheaper, and there is no smell. The only drawback that I have ever found is that if you make the dry version, the fels naptha doesn't always dissolve in the water for me. I don't' have that problem with the "liquid" gel like version.

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Let he who is without sin cast the first stone.

Went in my laundry room to look at the bag, and the name on it is "Roma". I think the other brand is "Foca", but I am not positive on that. Bought at the regular grocery store. It is 11.2 lbs and my receipt says I paid $7.13 for it. I could probably get it cheaper at the actual Mexican grocery.

It is nothing fancy...a plain, plastic bag (so I am not paying for packaging). I use 1/4 cup of powdered soap per load...1/2 a cup if it is nasty stuff.

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Peace,
Caliann

"First, Show me in the Bible where it says you can save someone's soul by annoying the hell out of them." -- Chuck

Thanks for the info. There's a Mexican store in town so I'll look for these.

The only place in my area that carries washing soda is Ace Hardware. They have all three ingredients.

40 mule team borax is easy to find and Fels Naptha isn't everywhere, but several stores sell it.

The local Wally World is selling baking soda in the laundry detergent aisle. It is not the same thing.

Incidentally, the Ace Hardware is by far the cheapest source of Fels Naptha that I have found. So, I have to go there for washing soda and I buy my Fels Naptha at the same time, but Walmart has the borax slightly cheaper.

We have had no problems finding all three ingredients on the mainland in different stores including Fred Meyers, the Fels Naptha was .99 which is a decent price too. I only make the jelled variety and it is the best for dissolving plus we have septic. I do not use any dry powered soaps..Dad always said it is much harder on your washer machine. All I know is that it cakes up and you have to wipe it off your washer inside the lid etc...plus clothes come out with soap dry particles on them. I always used liquid, but hubby bought dry a few times and never did again when he saw his clothes...In the year I have made this gel laundry soap, hubby has had no complaints and loves the scent of it.

I make this every few months and so enjoy the savings! When I started making dog food, hubby jumped on board, major approval too! The dogs have never had such silky coats, and our laundry turns out just fine, you can add essential oils to scent it.....this makes a good basic laundry soap and if you need to get stains out, you can pre treat with the Fels Naptha bar or you can use a dollar store product stain remover spray....

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Thank you kindly,

Romy "Island Girl"
[URL="http://www.romysrealm.blogspot.com"]

Our local hardware store ( ace hardware) carries arm and hammer washing soda and 20 mule team borax. I am allergic to the perfumes the brand name detergents put in their stuff to make it smell good. We figured out the cost and it cost us about one penny per load to wash our clothes. I am a mechanic and have no problem getting the grease and other stuff off my clothes in our homemade laundry soap. For a full load in the washer we use one teaspoon and it seems to work great.

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I make my laundry detergent dry. I use both baking soda and washing soda in it and no longer have trouble with the whites turning grayish. I find all the ingredients at the local Walmart in the laundry soap aisle.

I've been using arm & hammer baking soda detergent for washing soda. I can't remember my chemistry enuf to know if it's different...
Kroger here carries fels naptha but more expensive than Walmart. Walmart also has borax.

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I went to our local store yesterday to stock up on Washing Soda and there was Borax! They said they'd had a number of people ask for it.

Thanks for the tip above on Ace Hardware, never occurred to me to look there for Fels Naptha, our local hardware store's an Ace. I'd rather support them than Amazon.

Would you share your recipe?

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Saffron

Our local Dollar General has Borax. Kroger carries both.

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I can't believe I deleted it!

I don't know if anyone has mentioned this yet, lots of replies! We used to make our own (well it's really a mixing of store bought ingredients like borax and fels naptha etc). Then I had to work out of town and went to an all natural store and found a small thing of Charlie's soap. I loved it. Checked online and when I bought the biggest tub of it (something like 1,000 loads) there was no shipping. So buying the bigger one with no shipping ended up 13 cents per load, I didn't have to grate soap, mix laundry detergent and its' all natural. Just sayin'...

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I always sprinkle baking soda in my laundry...i too use the homemade and finding my clothes looked dingy....not after adding the soda. I also read a kindle e-book about the uses of baking soda and vinegar...it also said to sprinkle baking soda to keep the clothes whiter. I just sprinkle some in, I dont measure. I buy the large bags of baking soda at Sam's and use it and vinegar for everything just about around the house. I also use Zote instead of Fels Napa.....I got a great deal on it at Lehman's last year

After reading your original post, I went looking today just to make sure I could find supplies. I bought the last Borax off the shelf and 8 more bars of soap. I have some washing soda, but I usually just use baking soda since it is so much cheaper.

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Let he who is without sin cast the first stone.

In my rural area, I find that Kroger regularly carries all 3 products! So check them out - I look in every store I shop in when I am getting low on one or the other item. I thought I was lot on the Fels bar, so I bought 7 or 8. Hubby was putting them way high up on the top shelf (I am way too short to reach!) and he found about 6 more bars, so I am set for a bit!

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Borax was easy to find here until about 6 months ago. It's since disappeared from the shelves of all the grocery stores near us.

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Beth ~ Old Church, VA
3 Nigerian Dwarf goats, 4 cats, 3 Pekin ducks and 7 chickens. One very patient husband~

Yes I went to this page http://www.charliesoap.com and then I went to the ingredient page which was a little ambiguous.... They list the important things and Washing Soda is one of them, coconut oil...etc.

http://www.charliesoap.com/research.html

I went on and read what was in Fels Naptha and you can use an all natural Castille soap, many HTers make this themselves. Or you can use an all natural soap which I can find at a discount store for the same buck. I love how this makes my entire home smell yummy! I do not mind making it as I love to cook and I am doing something at the same time I am making it. 20 Mule Team Borax is said to be 100% natural. Some of us enjoy making our own laundry soap. I do not have the room to store huge containers, I have plants and canning goods I have set up on all my shelves and in my pantry so....I like using a two gallon at a time batch. Yes, we can grate soap and make our versions completely natural...just Sayin! For most of us, it is not the penny compared to 13 pennies that matters the most...the small personal accomplishment of making something even if it comes from buying three things and yes we can say it costs a penny and the convenience...well I like it! Besides it takes up so much less room in my pantry

Hubby says the two things that annoyed him the most having to lug onto the boat or the ferry was...Laundry Soap and Dog Food. He is grateful I make both! Living on an island, we pare down unnecessary large items to haul out here...you have to buy them at the store, load it into your car, then drive it to the marina, load it onto a dock cart and then wheel it to your boat or the ferry. You load it onto the ferry or boat, you boat home and dock up. Then you unload it onto a dock cart, wheel it up the dock to your truck. Then drive it up to our home. Unload it from the truck and carry it into the house....It is not the penny that inspires me the most, man it is the convenience!

In case anyone is wondering, yes you can substitute different parts of making homemade soap and still have a good experience with a low cost pretty good and convenient laundry soap.

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Thank you kindly,

Romy "Island Girl"
[URL="http://www.romysrealm.blogspot.com"]

My Kroger store has all the ingredients, and the local Walmart even shelves them all together, obviously for those of us making the soap. Both washing soda and baking soda, both Fels Naptha and Zote soap. Borax and Oxyclean also.