Household Cleaners in Bulk? Yes, please!
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Household Cleaners in Bulk
Have you ever wondered if you could buy household cleaners in bulk? Me, too! Read on to see what I found.
Household cleaners in bulk?
I would love to find household cleaners in bulk.
When I was in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico in 2016, my husband and I went on a walking food tour. Not only was it a lot of fun and very filling, but also there wasn’t anyone else on the tour, so it was just us and the guide, Antonio.
Interestingly, Antonio had the chore of picking up some household cleaner while we were on our tour. He asked if we minded this little detour, and we said, “No, not at all.”
Take a look at the picture above. It shows big barrels of all-purpose cleaner in a variety of scents. The store was tiny, a bit smaller than a garage, and it was open at the front–no door and no front wall.
How does it work?
Antonio pulled a clean, repurposed soda bottle (liter size) out of his bag, filled it up from one of the barrels, paid, and off we went. Super easy, super fast.
Why buy in bulk?
This is a great example of reusing (soda bottle), reducing (think of all that plastic packaging), and saving money.
I had never seen a store like this in the U.S. or in any of my other travels.
We can get rice, flour, snacks, dog treats, tea, and various foods in bulk. I would love to buy cleaners and laundry products this way, too–paying less and reusing my own containers.
Is it available in the U.S.?
I did a Google search to see what my options are here. As far as I could tell (although my search wasn’t exhaustive), it seems that there was nothing like this stall on the radar.
I found that the idea of “bulk” cleaners means getting multi-packs of regular-sized products bundled together with more plastic or slightly bigger plastic containers for refills.
Additionally, many of the sites I looked at were wholesale or industrial supply. Not terribly helpful.
Laundry Products
Out of curiosity, I narrowed my search to laundry products.
Powder Detergent
You can get 50 pounds of eco-friendly laundry powder that comes in a cardboard box–no plastic! I found it on Amazon. I haven’t used it, but it has great reviews.
Liquid Detergent
For liquids, which I normally use in my HE washer, it was pretty much just Costco-sized plastic containers. The good news is that green products ARE available in these larger sizes if you look for them.
Soap Nuts
While I was looking for bulk detergents, I came across soap nuts or soap berries. They’re all natural, and they don’t come in plastic. Yay!
I bought some not long ago, and I like them. I’m still getting the hang of using them, but I will post about it soon to let you know more.
For more on eco-friendly laundry, you can read about making wool dryer balls.
Some day I want to make my own laundry detergent, which is the ideal, but I’m not there yet. Stay tuned for that, too.
In the meantime, I’ll keep my eyes open to see if any liquid cleaners become available in bulk.
Let me know in the comments if you’ve seen anything!
Until next time…
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