I just bought some more Fels Naptha soap at Jewel food store in IL for $1.39 a bar. It was on the bottom shelf in the bar soap section. White wrapper with red, green & yellow. Sorry to hear of others having to pay so much for it.

-- Jean (schiszik@tbcnet.com), June 14, 2000

Answers

Jean, I've been watching for Fels Naptha since that laundry soap thread started. I did go into a grocery store yesterday that didn't seem to have it-but in an area of Hutterites and Mennonites who still make their own soap, so I wasn't surprised. I haven't been paying much attention to the prices of it though. And I did find one store that had it in with laundry supplies instead of the bar soaps. But since they were across the aisle from each other that wasn't a big deal. Gerbil

-- Gerbil (ima_gerbil@hotmail.com), June 14, 2000.

I recently visited a living history museum in my area and found Fels Naptha soap in the general store (which doubled as their gift shop). Paid $1.19 per bar (or close to that). The museum is Billie Creek Village near Rockville, IN.

-- Sandy (tripletreefarm@hotmail.com), June 14, 2000.

The laundry soap thread caught my attention too. So I was also on the look out for Felsnaptha soap. I couldn't find it locally, then went to the internet to see if they had a site. I never found a site for them but foun d a site that sells it. I dont have the address now but found it doing a search under Fels naptha. I also found a n interestin site that had made comparisons between different soaps for stain removal. They said that FN performed well but contained alot of artificial fragrance. They seemed to prefer castille soaps because of their lack of fragrance. I tried it with a bar of Kirks whick claims to have only trace amts. of fragrance. I'd rather have none but my other alternative was Dr. Bronners at around 4.00+ a bar. Dr. B uses only essential oils for fragrance. I love Dr. B. for the face, body and hair, but not for laundry at that price. I can get it through the coop for 1.85 but I still think it's too expensive for laundry soap. That's why I tried kirks(.80/bar). It seems to clean well but not as smooth as commercial liquid laundry soap. I also doubled the borax and the washing soda as the first time I used it it didnt take away all of the odors from the clothes.

I have a relative that swears by 1/2 cup borax, 1/2 cup washing soda, and 1 cup vinegar per load. It seems to work fine but was using lots and lots of vinegar. She found this recipe in a book about preventing cancer. Denise

-- Denise (jphammock@earthlink.net), June 14, 2000.

Denise, your relative's recipe sounds fine too. I wouldn't mind the vinegar if I could still get it at Aldi for 49 cents a quart. Then you could just use the F.N. for spots. But, now that I think about it, you get more mileage out of your borax & washing soda with the liquid mix.

-- Jean (schiszik@tbcnet.com), June 14, 2000.

I found Fels Naptha soap at Albertsons for $.99 a bar. If you can't get it right off the shelf, I'd suggest asking it as a special order. Albertsons prides itself on getting anything you ask for and I know Fred Meyer will do the same.

-- Chris Stogdill (cstogdill@rmci.net), June 15, 2000.

The borax, washing soda & vinegar combination can be very hard on washing machines and not great for the environment if your washer empties out above ground. We have to remember that a lot of the old time recipes for cleaning have been replaced due to environmental concerns.

-- Eugenia (EW5642@aol.com), June 18, 2000.

Just curious why you would say that, Eugenia? All the ingredients are still commonly sold and used for laundry. It's much cheaper than the pre-made detergents.

-- Jean (schiszik@tbcnet.com), June 21, 2000.

Restoration Hardware -Walnut Creek and Berkeley selling Fels-Naptha for $1.00. July 2001

-- Sheila Wells (breakingwave@earthlink.net), July 28, 2001.