Piedmont, a lot of the oils/fats/butters that can be used to make soap are available in your local grocery store, and probably even your nearest Wal-Mart. My basic recipe includes olive oil, lard, coconut oil, and castor oil, all of which I can get at my store. I did have to shop around a bit for lye, but found that I could get real caustic soda/sodium hydroxide (aka "lye") through a couple of different farm supply stores in my town.
Some common oils/butters used in soap making that are probably available in your store are:
Coconut oil
Olive oil
Canola oil
Soybean oil (usually under the label of "vegetable oil")
Sunflower oil
Safflower oil
Castor oil
Vegetable shortening (such as Crisco)
Lard
You may need to order online for the following oils, as I personally find them harder to locate in town:
Palm oil
Palm kernel oil (it is different than palm)
Shea butter
Neem oil
Avocado oil (I can get this along with grapeseed oil at a local healthfood store)
Mango butter
Cocoa butter
Rice bran oil
*And this list can go on and on!!!
I like ordering some of those "luxury" oils along with my EO's from
www.wholesalesuppliesplus.com , and Brambleberry is also a great company.
Unless you're trying to go all natural, and avoid any synthetics, I wouldn't rule out the use of fragrance oils, either. I love my EO blends in some of my "earthy" soaps, and then love a good scent from a FO when it's lovely!