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.

I never used fabric softener (liquid or sheets) when I used Commercial Detergents, Homemade Laundry Detergent, OR Charlie's Soap. It's just plain dangerous stuff!!! It's one of the most toxic chemical combinations in your house. I've used white vinegar in the rinse, and now with Charlie's, even that is unnecessary because there is NO residue left in the clothes. If you continue to add a product for softness, which amounts to chemicals that coats the fabric, all you do is delay Charlie's removing all the "gunk", so using it would be futile, in my opinion. You'll never get the best results from Charlie's Soap if you add softener. Avoid static by: -Drying things that contribute to it (nylon, rayon, synthetic fabrics) on a line or a hanger, not in the dryer. -Remove them from the dryer while the load is still slightly damp - a small amount of moisture helps to prevent static. -Quit over-drying your clothing. If you detect some static, you can toss in a damp cotton towel/cloth and tumble for a moment so the moisture discharges the static. -You can also use water and spritz it into the dryer to discharge the static. -Grainlady

I did the true test today.....my 13 year old son's sheets. I swear I can smell his room from down the hallway. He's cute, he's a good dresser and he wears deoderant but he's just ripe and his sheets....funky. I felt this was a 2 scoop load and I have to say the overall finished product was better than my 1 scoop sheet load yesterday. They were de-funked. So, my question is....should I be using 2T for large loads? This would bring the # of loads down to 40 if you are doing large loads. I'm fine with that as it never once crossed my mind how many loads I get out of a box of Tide. I also throw in a scoop of Oxy Clean too with sheets, whites, towels.

You do what is right for you. I'm a CS fan myself, but what works for me may not work for someone else. On top of that, when I switched to CS I still had other detergent here I was trying. I'm not about to let the other stuff I had prior to the CS go to waste no matter how much I like the CS. To do so would be wasteful. I just figured out a way to incorporate different things into different loads and use the CS exclusively on my lil ones clothing and the hubs uniforms right now. When I first got my HE washer, I got some Cheer HE to try it since the HE's were suppose to rinse better I figured the scent may not hurt. Everything seemed to be okay for a while. Then I got some Tide Free HE to help another poster as they were having a suds prob and wanted to see if it was the detergent. Found out it was as that stuff sudses a lot in certain machines. Then I got some ALL FC HE to see if that would do the same thing. It didn't suds as much and rinsed out much better, but it didn't get all the stains out either. Now to use them up, I use the Tide Free HE on my and my hubs clothing because I can use an unscented fabric softener to cut the suds. I put a cap of the Cheer into a spray bottle with water to use as a pretreater on our clothes as the Tide washes out the Cheers perfume. I use the All FC on all of our bedding as they do not get stained. Like I said earlier, I use the CS on my lil ones clothes and hubs uniforms. As I use up all of my old detergent, other things will get switched to the CS. CS was just the over all right thing for me as: I can't use scented things on mine and my kids clothing for very long, I can't use fabric softener on my kids clothing, Tide Free HE was leaving behind too many suds because of the way my washer works (very little water) and cutting it back too much didn't get my clothes clean, and the All FC wasn't getting all of the muck out of the kids clothes. As you can see, I have special needs for a detergent anyway. CS just fit the bill in my situation. On top of that, CS does work slower than many commercial detergents so pretreating and presoaking are definitely a requirement here for me, but I use to do that before anyway so it wasn't that much of a switch. I can see where many would not like the CS for that reason alone and do not begrudge them for it. Also, the CS does have to be orderd online as it is not carried in many stores in many areas. Depending on where you live, it may very well be more expensive than what a person could find at the store. For me the CS happens to work out cheaper per load even with the multi purpose pretreater. I'm a big advocate of finding what thing or things work for you. If you want to use more than the Charies go right ahead. You have to do what is right for you. There is nothing wrong with that. You may end up not liking the CS at all, so it would be good to have other things on hand. If that ends up being the case, use up the CS by cleaning out your machine with it occasionally or mopping your floors with a little or whatever you can think of. At least, in the long run, you will be happy with the results of whatever you do and that is what matters the most. : D