Borax and washing soda and where to find it all, oh my!

I found the borax, washing powder and fels-naptha soap at Ace Hardware very inexpensive.

I was at wal-mart yesterday looking for borax and washing powder in the laundry aisle and was suprised that i did not find either product. i guess it is specific to the area you are looking in. i am in the shenandoah valley of virginia. i will check our k-mart and kroger as well as our other wal-mart a little further outside of town. i'm hoping to find some soon, as i'm anxious to try making my own detergent! thanks for the info!!!

All three products are available at our local Wal-Mart in the laundry detergent/cleaners aisle. I did find the Super Washing Powder at Kroger and I am sure they would have the Borax, too. You can also buy the products online!

Ace Hardware has the Borax, Arm and Hammer washing soda and the fels-naptha soap.

I know this is a little late but washing soda is just sodium carbonite, like a reader said below. It is also used to help balance the pH in swimming pools. I ran to Home Depot and read the labels for the different bottles for pH balancing and sure enough one of them was sodium carbonite. It is called something else of course but the ingredients list showed it just has sodium carbonite in the bottle. I've been using it for about a year, along with borax soap and water, as my laundry detergent and love it!

Actually you can kill roaches and other common household pests with borax. There are a few recipes out there but essentially the borax kills the insect that ingests it, as well as the others when the borax-food mix is brought back to the nest. It is harmful when ingested, so make sure kids and pets are safe from it.

I buy Borax and Washing Soda at Publix.

Thank you Heather for your reply. This morning I got a little curious, but that is my nature. I put in several zipcodes, even the zipcode where my sister in law did find the washing soda and the website said no stores carry it. I think something is wrong with the website, so I am going to call Arm and Hammer this morning and talk to a person, I hope. I did look on Alice.com and was going to order it there, but you have to order 6 or more items. Right now, I'm living on a limited butget and just need the washing soda. Have a GREAT day.

I found borax at my Walmart today, but no washing soda. In fact I've done a search with my zip code and NO one carries it. In fact I spoke with the grocery manager at Kroger and it wasn't even in his catalog for him to order. I live in a large suburb of Dallas, Tx. So tell me, what is wrong with this picture?

washing soda and borax are completely different products, and you need them BOTH in order to make your own detergent or cleaners. Washing soda is in the same family as baking soda, but it is just sodium carbonate, not sodium BI-carbonate like baking soda.

Sidenote: the walmart in our city also does NOT carry washing soda or Borax, but the kmart website has it, so I will try my local kmart next.

Is washing soda the same thing as borax?

Walmart in my city no longer carries borax or washing soda. They also have stopped carrying amonia and fabric dyes. The employee I spoke to said he had been told they are considered too dangerous!!!! But they still sell drain opener and bleach. What's up with this?

I get my supplies and recipes (free) from soapsgonebuy.com

Fred meyer has washing soda for $ 2.49,, :)

Go to Alice.com for washing soda, free shipping. The price is $2.99.

I get Borax at my local King Kullen (I'm located on Eastern Long Island, but they're located throughout Long Island, NY) and washing soda at Stop & Shop. Both are in the laundry isle near other laundry additives and usually on the top or bottom shelf. Also, Borax has changed their box: it's now white with red print and a thin light green strip at the top and bottom of box. Sorry, I don't have a picture, but will get one asap. Good luck.
Jennifer

does the Borax, the laundry kind, kill ants?, and is it harmful to put outside? around my house foundation?__

@Allison, the roach killers I think you discuss is boric acid, is an acid, and much stronger insecticide and poison. Borax is an alkaline salt of boric acid, the alkaline makes it a good cleaner, and it is less toxic to people. Different chemicals, don't confuse them.

washing soda is also known as soda ash and is ease to find on the internet
thank you

Just a note that the borax by the roach killers is NOT the same as the laundry 20 mule team borax. The roach killer can be dangerous to children and should not be used for cleaning.

This is the recipe I use with great results.

3 pints water
1/3 bar felsnaptha or ivory grated fine
1/2 cup washing soda
1/2 cup borax
2 gallon bucket
1 quart hot water
more hot water
Mix grated soap with 3 pints water in a sauce pan. Slowly warm water untill soap melts. Stir in soda and borax and stir untill thick. Remove from heat and add 1 qt. hot water. Pour into bucket and add hot water untill full. Allow to sit over night to gel. Give it a good stir to mix before using. Use 1/4 cup per load.
I found lavendar scented ivory at my store and it makes your detergant smell real nice.

I have seen this on the top shelf at Kroger Supermarket. I hope that helps!

I use Charlie's Soap laundry powder ( http://www.charliesoap.com ), which lists washing soda as its first ingredient, and I'm really pleased with it. I have no connection with the company and have no economic interest in posting this, although I did once get a free gift box because of someone mentioning that I referred them to the company.

As someone indicated about the washing soda-borax mix above, Charlie's Soap does not have any of the fragrances associated with store-bought laundry detergents. So your laundry does not smell like Tide or what have you. But I don't mind at all. It's inexpensive (per load -- you use only a tablespoon for a washload) and it cleans really well.

How do you use these?

do you have any recipes for the laundry detergent you make with this stuff?

I've seen Borax with the roach killers at my local grocery store.

I found it at Target, and will be using it as a replacement to some of my household cleaners.

I make my own laundry soap and I know the challenge of finding the washing soda. I actually found it in my local hardware store. Look around in every store you go to in the laundry/cleaning isle.

I did the borax/washing soda concoction for a while. At first it was hard to find the stuff in the stores and upon asking the store clerks they would just give me weird looks not knowing what I was talking about. Alas I had a break through at a local Kroger. I found mine on the very top row at the end of the aisle. At walmart it can be found at or near the top of the shelves at the end of the aisle near where they keep the dyes, bleach, etc.

Only downfall that I found with the borax/washing soda mix is that you don't get a nice laundry soapy smell to your clothes when they are done. Hubby didn't like this idea since he is HUGE on the smell of things hence resulting in us not doing it anymore and just buying the cheap laundry soap.

I knew that Borax could be used to clean all sorts of things in your house, I had forgotten that one of them was dishes. We recently moved into a house that doesn't have a dishwasher so I'm constantly HAND washing dishes. I think I'll have to pick up some borax and or washing soda to help with my everyday dish clean up.