Thrift: Fels-Naptha, Super Soap March 27
People were scrubbing up long before detergents became the standard. These days our cupboards are filled with a wide variety of specialized cleaners. I don’t believe this specialization has made anyone’s home cleaner. I’m pretty sure, however, that a larger group of products makes a larger dent in our budgets.
Fels-Naptha Soap was the do-it-all soap in times gone by, and continues to have many fans. My pal DIY Maven found it “the best pre-treater, spot remover on the planet”.
But wait! There’s more: long time advocates claim that it does a great job as an insect spray, poison oak/ivy cure, lawn tonic, and was the soap of choice for washing out the mouths of vulgar children.
This classic recipe reportedly costs only pennies per load:
Quick & Easy Powder Laundry Soap
1 bar Fels-Naptha soap, grated (comes to about 2 cups)
1 cup Washing Soda (Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda)
1 cup Borax (20 Mule Team)
Combine grated soap with washing soda & borax. Use 1 tablespoon for light load, 2 tablespoons for heavy or heavily soiled load. Use half that for front-loading washers.
joe Mar 28
what a great tip here in the algarve we are always spilling wine , this should do the trick.
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stefanie Mar 28
This is a really great recipe idea. When I was growing up and our family went hiking and might have been exposed to poison oak, we always came home and took turns in the shower with Fels-Naptha. It was always on hand. Of course, the times that we didn’t know we’d been exposed were often hellacious.
Ken Hoyt Mar 28
Hey Stefanie,
I wish that we’d had this remedy. When I was a kid I had poison oak or ivy (interchangeably)each summer. My Grandma Hoyt’s solution employed white gasoline as the skin surface drier. My brothers and I often smelled like filling stations.
Hey Bob,
I have resorted to cups with lids (often called travel mugs). In our house we call them Ken’s Tippy Cups…
Dave Apr 27
I wonder if this is the brown soap that old timers talk about as a poison ivy remedy? I’ve seen this and will have to try it.