# RE: M&P Supplies



## Soapsavvy (Feb 19, 2016)

I don't know about anyone else here on the forum but as a newbie to this craft I'm already fed up with the cost of shipping. Can anyone suggest somewhere in Illinois I can go to directly to buy my soaping supplies. $15.00 here $45.00 adds up. Thanks!!!


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## lsg (Feb 19, 2016)

You can check Wholesale Supplies Plus for their Monday sales.  If you buy $40 or more, you get free shipping.


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## kchaystack (Feb 19, 2016)

Soapsavvy said:


> I don't know about anyone else here on the forum but as a newbie to this craft I'm already fed up with the cost of shipping. Can anyone suggest somewhere in Illinois I can go to directly to buy my soaping supplies. $15.00 here $45.00 adds up. Thanks!!!



Soaper's Choice for oils.  If you are close enough to Chicago, you can even do a pick up and save the shipping.  I can get 5 gallons of various things shipped to me for about $10 (I am in MI, so I am almost right next door).

Nurture is near Indy, so shipping from them should not be bad.

WSP does have 'free shipping' over $40, but their prices for things tends to be higher.  Plus they recently added that $5 handling charge.  

Natures Garden is also in OH, like WSP.  So their shipping should be reasonable, since they ar just 1 state away.

The places I avoid ordering from too often are Branbleberry, Essential Depot, and Mad Oils.  ED and MO are in Florida, and BB is in Washington state.  They are far enough away shipping is much higher.

The best thing to do is maximize your orders.  Save and wait until you have a substantial order ready.  I know it is not perfect - but sometimes us out in the boonies have to make do.


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## Seawolfe (Feb 19, 2016)

And if you have Amazon prime - always check there too. Sometimes the prices are too much, but sometimes they are quite good.


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## LisaAnne (Feb 19, 2016)

I'm in Illinois also and I use soapers choice. I love the fast delivery.


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## shunt2011 (Feb 19, 2016)

I too recommend Soaper's Choice.  I could order early one day and it will be at my doorstep the next in most cases.  Same with Nature's Garden.


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## Steve85569 (Feb 19, 2016)

I use various online stores for oils: Wayfair for coconut, Vitamin Shop for castor. I wait for sales and the I buy enough to get free shipping.
One store wants me to spend $50 and the other $25 but that's not hard. I get the CO at around $12 a gallon and castor was under $10 a quart last sale - shipped to my door.

 I also use local stores for olive oil ( Cash 'n Carry) and Ace for lye. Buying lye at Ace is the same price as buying from the Lye Guy but I get instant gratification by walking in and buying. I bribe them with soap.

Fragrances from WSP .

As you can see we all feed our habit in our own way. I think it's part of what makes us who we are.

Steve


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## Soapsavvy (Feb 20, 2016)

The places I avoid ordering from too often are Brambleberry, Essential Depot, and Mad Oils. ED and MO are in Florida, and BB is in Washington state. They are far enough away shipping is much higher.   

Your totally correct. While I won't use the name of the company( IT'S ONE MENTIONED ABOVE) they wanted to charge me $9.00 for shipping a product that cost $5.75. Of course I emailed them, got a reduction of $1.00 and a explanation that the product couldn't be shipped via united states post office. It's shear madness!!!   THANK YOU EVERYONE!!!!


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## Soapsavvy (Feb 20, 2016)

Kstack, i found that soapers choice just yesterday. I will give them a call today!!!


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## DeeAnna (Feb 20, 2016)

I'm sensitive to the cost of shipping to, since I ship about 1000 packages a year to my customers. as well as get packages as a consumer. 

I have to say that it's hard to get shipping below about $7 per package when all of the handling and material costs are factored in as well as the base cost of the shipping itself.

And shipping, including USPS, has been going up sharply over the last few years, so look for minimum shipping costs to rise too. It's either charge a fair price for shipping or hide that cost in the merchandise prices.

One way to minimize shipping costs is to place larger orders so shipping is a lower % of the total cost. When shipping is 10% of a $200 order, that hurts a lot less than when it's 30% of a $20 order

Even driving to pick up an order has its own cost for gas and the value of my time. It's seldom cost effective to drive very far compared to having the order shipped.


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## Soapsavvy (Feb 23, 2016)

Hi KStack, I took your advice and purchase  some things from Nature's Garden. Thanks so very much! 
I have another question that hopefully you can answer for me. I purchased a custom made wooden soap mold with cutter that measures: 
 16 3/4" long, by 3 3/8" wide, by 2 3/4" high Can you recommend what size silicone mold I would need for this wooden box? Most of the silicone molds I've seen are only 10" long. Thanks in advance!!!


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## Soapsavvy (Feb 29, 2016)

*RE: Interesting technique*

I'm curious if anyone here has tried this technique?


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## dixiedragon (Feb 29, 2016)

So pretty! I get something some what similar in CP. Here's a pic and on the next page I explained it.

http://www.soapmakingforum.com/showthread.php?t=49621&page=3

Also it may be done with 2 molds - one small rectangle mold (column or log) filled with red, then the red log is placed in a larger rectangle column mold and white is poured around.


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