To those of you who have been using these "home made" detergents, are you experiencing any odor, mold or mildew issues? The reason I ask is because castile soap builds up into a gooopy, gel-like gunk if not properly rinsed. This could potentially cause problems in washers. Every home-made product I've tried - from detergent to fabric softener - has proven unsatisfactory. Either the products don't clean well, they risk building up in my machine or on my clothes or they just don't work. Price is not the only consideration, which is what appears to be driving this homemade laundry movement.

Zayda's store-bought bed got stinky really fast. It was like a large beanbag but had a soft cover and foam shredded filling (She's not a chewer). No matter how much I washed the zippered cover, I couldn't get that smell out and decided it was from the bed's filling. Also, stains from her body oil or chewing her dog bonys while she was laying on her bed, were no longer coming out of the cover. Threw the whole works out (I'm not one of those that would sell a stinky dog bed on Craigs. *smile* ) and started from scratch. Bought my Sunbrella 'seconds' fabric off Ebay for $4.96 a yard/$5 shipping. Bought twin-size egg crate, barely used, off Craigs. Went to see it first...no smell at all and it was advertised as "used twice, almost new". But just in case (one never knows when it comes to Craigs) I put the egg crate on our patio table, poured a half a cup of sanitizing soap on the crate, sprayed lightly with the hose. Used a push broom to scrub and make a good amount of suds. Rinsed, did a good ring-out of excess water, let dry hanging over the fence. Cut the crate in half and stacked them on top of each other. Measured. Sewed up three sides of Sunbrella and added Velcro to the fourth side. Slid both pieces of egg crate into the 'pillowcase' of Sunbrella. I put the crate sides together so that Zayda didn't lay on lumps. :) Under $20 and I got a great bed that Zayda loves. It's the color I wanted for the room where we keep her bed (Terracotta!) and the Sunbrella doesn't seem to soak up any of Zayda's wet doggy scent when she insists on going outside and playing in the rain. The most I've done in the past year and a half is open the Velcro, pull out the crates, washed them the same way and washed the Sunbrella along side of the crates...dried them all on the fence. I did this more for myself, not because the doggy bed smelled...I just wanted everything in the room freshened when Spring came last year. I'm thinking of making a second one soon to keep in daughter's room but this time I'll make the pillow case a little more formal with boxed sides. For my money, this is the best doggy bed we've ever used, with all the dogs we've had over the years.... I swear by the Sunbrella fabric for Doggy beds.

We knew someone who tried to get us involved a few years ago. We did go to one of the introductory meetings. The others are right when they describe the people involved as pushy. That was our experience also. The Amway people seem especially pushy. I've had people ask if I wanted to sell for some other companies. Once I said no, that was the end of it. The Amway guy kept trying even after we said no. Amway made these huge promises of how you could quit your day job & become rich selling Amway. While there may be a very few people that achieve that, most don't. The ones who really make the money are those who are able to recruit people to work under them. That is especially true in a company like Amway that's been around for so long. I do know several people who sell Mary Kay & Pampered Chef & make some extra money to help out every month. Of all the people I know who sell for various companies, I don't know anyone who has actually been able to replace their job income with sales from something like this. There is usually a monthly minimum sales volume that must be maintained. It's in the fine print of the contract. If you are only going to use these products personally & won't be selling to friends/family, you will likely end up paying a lot for these items. There are plenty of alternatives to Amway products. This post was edited by kittiemom on Sun, Nov 3, 13 at 13:03

My mother was highly allergic to many different soaps which would cause her hands to red, scaly and inflamed. And to many toothpastes, where she determined that it was the fluoride that was a problem for her. She had to keep changing toothpastes every time the one she had been buying announced "New! Improved! Now with Flouride!!" When the city announced that they were going to add fluoride to the tap water she fought it and spoke at one of the public comment meetings, but it was clear they were only holding the public comment meeting because they were required to do so, and they had already made their decision. At that meeting she told the city council that if they added fluoride to the water and she got cancer and died, she would sue them for every penny they had. They did, she did, and, of course, she didn't.