This giveaway has ended. Thanks to all that entered!
Today I want to tell you about 2 NC company’s that I have found and am really excited about! I first want to tell you about Charlie’s Soap. No, not the kind of soap you wash your body with. Let me give you a little bit of history that is a great story.

One day in 1976, in Mayodan, N.C., Charlie Sutherland Jr’s boss asked him to go find some soap that would clean their textile yarn machines. Charlie and his brother-in-law, Ron Joyce, got the idea to make their own soap and then sell it to the textile company. They worked on a perfect high quality formula that was completely biodegradable, hypo-allergenic, and environmentally friendly. The soap was a success and cleaned all of the oils off of the machinery. Of course their plan didn’t fully work out and they got caught. Ron was fired, but that gave him time to continue working on the soaps with Charlie working with him on the weekends. In 1983, Charlie bought the company from Ron and has been running it ever since. You can read the full story here.

Over the past 33 years, Charlie’s Soap has continued to strive and Charlie’s sons have joined the team. Now they have added Charlie’s Laundry Liquid and Laundry Powder to their stock. Charlie’s Soap is really a blend of natural-based surfactants (detergents) derived from coconut oil, treated with a product of natural gas (real soaps are treated with caustic soda or pot ash), and salts in water (Laundry Liquid) or pure Green Mountain washing soda (Laundry Powder).

A lot of the laundry detergents you buy in stores are made with Synthetic Surfactants and can contain Alkyl phenoxy polyethoxy ethanols, Diathanolamines, Linear alkyl sodium sulfonate, Petroleum distillates, Phenols, and Sodium hypochlorite– all of which are known toxins and cause various health problems. You can read more about these ingredients at Sixwise.com. The scary part is that if you go to your laundry room and read your detergent label, you probably won’t see any ingredients listed. Hopefully this will change soon since an environmentalist group has sued several companies because they refused to release their ingredients. Kind of shady.

Another BIG thing that is found in detergents is Optical brighteners. These synthetic chemicals convert UV light wavelengths into visible light, which makes laundered clothes appear whiter (although does not actually affect the cleanliness of the clothing). They’ve been found to be toxic to fish and to cause bacterial mutations. Further, they can cause allergic reactions when exposed to skin that is later exposed to sunlight. So if you’ve been buying organic clothing and using regular detergents, it’s all gone to waste.

Charlie’s Soap is not like any brand of detergent I’ve ever used. We’ve been using Method and Seventh Generation for the past 2 years and now that I’ve tried Charlie’s Soap– I will never go back. When I got my instructions on how to use Charlie’s Soap I was a bit thrown back. You have to first clean out your washing machine with the soap and old rags before doing a load. Most detergents leave behind perfumes, brighteners and/or softeners to cover up the fact they aren’t really washing your clothes. These additives are meant to stick like glue, so they are left behind on your washing machine. I then read that it would take a few washings for the residues to fully get out of my clothes. I was then scared to death of what my family has been wearing for it to take several loads to get off! After a month’s use of both the powder and liquid, I’m happy to report clean, extra soft and non-toxic clothes. No fading, no skin irritations and extra clean clothes. 🙂 If you have extra hard water, please read the info on the FAQ page.

We also got to try the original Charlie’s Soap All Purpose Cleaner. When they say all purpose, they mean all purpose. It can even be used to clean your pets if they get into something extra sticky! It is completely non-toxic and doesn’t cause skin irritations. So I put the Charlie’s Soap to the test. First, there was a huge dried coffee stain on our carpet, so I sprayed 4 squirts and after a tiny bit of scrubbing it was gone. Ella had some Play-Doh from over a year ago stuck to the carpet, 2 squirts and it was up. There were several unknown stains on my carpet and after I sprayed, they were gone. Then I went to clean the metal part over my stove. It was caked with grease-OK I’ve been slack and haven’t cleaned it in a very long time- I sprayed 3 squirts and it was off. It cleans counter-tops, carpets, toilets, glass, heavy machinery, bath tubs, furniture, vinyl seats, floors… basically if you have something that needs to be cleaned it can clean it.

Charlie’s Soap offers 100% money back guarantee if you aren’t happy with their products. My experience has left me 100% satisfied! Right now if you make any purchase over $40 you can get a free reusable grocery tote by entering freetote at the checkout.

The Giveaway: Charlie’s Soap is offering 1 very lucky reader a Laundry Powder Combo which contains: 80 loads of Laundry Powder, a handy Sprayer of All Purpose Cleaner, a Portable Emergency Stain Treater, a gallon Refil of All Purpose Cleaner, and a stylish, non-woven reusable Grocery Tote sporting the Charlie’s Soap Logo.
Rules: You have until 11:59 p.m. EST October 17, 2009 to enter. The winner will be chosen by random.org and announced after they respond to the winning email. The winner has 48 hours to respond to the winning email, or a new winner will be chosen. You must leave your email address! This contest is open to the US.

2. Become a fan of Mkokopelli on FB, Mkokopelli on Twitter, or Follow my blog
3. Subscribe to my blog by email (on the right sidebar) You must verify and be active at the time of the giveaway- those who are unverified will become disqualified

5. Enter another giveaway I have going on and tell me which one or leave a comment on a non-giveaway post (1 extra entry total)
6. Tell me where you can find Charlie’s Soap near you
7. Tell me something else you learned about Charlie’s Soap on their site
8. Become a Fan of Charlie’s Soap on Facebook and tell me something Charlie’s Soap cleaned that nothing else would