Types of Laundry Detergent

I used Tide for years, but it has gotten so expensive that I too decided to switch. I switched to Sam's Club brand, Members Mark, last month and haven't noticed any differences. It cleans well, smells good, and is significantly less expensive. It is for both he machines and regular ones.

I buy Dynamo when Meijer puts it on sale B1G2 (so aprx. 3/$12 or so). They have a dye- and fragrance-free kind that I use on everything from the kids' clothes and cloth diapers to my lingerie and everything comes out great.

Hi N.,

I started shopping for my laundry products at a store called Melaleuca. I also get many other products for my home and family there. The benefits are not only the money you save but also that Melaleuca is a wellness company and guarantees that there products are made without toxins in them. I never realized that much of the stuff I was using in my home had horrible toxins in them. Here I was using laundry soap that had bad stuff in it and then my family was wearing it and absorbing bad stuff into there bodies. Anyway, I am so extremely happy shopping there and LOVE LOVE LOVE the products I have tried so far. I would be happy to share more of my story with you if you would like. Feel free to email me at ____@____.com. I hope this helps.

Not sure if you are a member of Sam's Club, but we started using their Members Mark brand a few months ago and really like it. Best of all is it the cheapest one I have found.

Right now I'm using Arm & Hammer for sensitive skin. I also like All free & clear but I noticed that the price had been raised by a little bit. That why I bought the Arm & Hammer

I use Purex cause my daughter has sensitive skin. My brother in law uses Tide also & is very very picky about not using anything else at all so my sister did a test to see if he'd notice and she put some of my purex in his tide bottle since they're both blue and then washed his clothes like normal. he never noticed, lol.

Shaklee. Love it! It's green and super concentrated so a little goes a long way (I only use an ounce for a large load). I only order it about four times a year!

I really prefer Tide and Wisk myself, but you are correct even with them concentrating it to the point you are only using half as much per load I still think $15.00 or more per container is a little much. If you catch it on sale and have a coupon it is still expensive! I have found Arm and Hammer and Purex are about as good, I don't get a yeast infection from them so that is a plus and the cost is a lot less!

We've used Tide, and Ajax before without trouble.

But for the majority of the last 15 years, we've used Amway laundry detergents and "pre-spot" treatments. They really work great, and they're shipped to me, so I don't have to lug them through the store, and then home.

For what it's worth...

we use whatever is cheap - usually end up with

All

or

Era

We've been a Tide family for a long time. We recently switched to Costco's brand of Tide - it's Kirkland's version of Tide and honestly I can't tell the difference. More for less money :-)

I found other detergents didn't seem to clean my kid's clothes as well. So I bought Arm and Hammer to wash sheets and towels in, things that aren't as likely to get stained, and save the good stuff, the tide, for our clothes. If you have to wash somehting more than once, you haven't saved any money.
R.

I make my own powdered detergent and love it! I haven't made the liquid yet, but have thought about it. I grate a bar of Fels Naptha, add 1 cup washing soda, 1/2 cup Borax and 1/2 cup Oxyclean. I also add a couple of drops of citrus oil to make it smell fresher. I store this in an old bowl with a lid. Then when it's time to do laundry I add 1 tablespoon for small loads, 2 for medium, 3 for large ones. You can add a little more if it's heavily soiled. I have two kids and my clothes always come out clean. I do still pre-treat stains before going in the laundry with Dawn dish liquid.

N.,

Me, too! I'd like to switch to something cheaper that doesn't fade the color from clothes. I never use the detergents with bleach alternatives for that reason. I've been using All 3x concentrated in the little bottle for years. It's a dollar a bottle cheaper at Walmart than most places, but if there's something cheaper and just as good...

I make my own...http://www.thefamilyhomestead.com/laundrysoap.htm
It's super cheap and I've been doing this for at least 3-4 years now.

I keep some purex on hand for darks - sometimes if I don't get the 'egg drop soup' dissolved well at the start of the load it can leave a little residue on darks, don't notice it on other stuff though.

We are new to the area, I've seen Borox at Walmart, but have yet to find washing soda and zote here(found some at Big lots one time, but that's kinda hit or miss).

I order shaklee detergent every 6 weeks. Most store detergents are too strong smelling and not green. You can also learn to make your own which I know people on this database have posted many times before.

N., A little advice try a small container of the new deter. first. I to tried to go cheaper and one of my daughters had an allergic reaction to it, she is not allergic to anything else so, then I was stuck with this big container of detergent I couldn't use. Good Luck

Hi N.,
We've used Purex for a long time with no problems. They have the "free" which I used with both kids when they were younger and now we just use one of the regular scented ones and I get the scented liquid fabric softner to match.
Good Luck!

I also use Tide, but we do occasionally use Gain and I like it, too.

I'm thinking the same thing. I've been using Tide with the lilac scent and just never seem to find it on sale anymore. I noticed that my girlfriend, with a large family and lots of laundry, used the Costco, Kirkland brand. I think I'll give it a shot. Their brand is pretty good in most things. I tried the Purex one week and hated it, it seemed weak on my kids stains.

I used Dreft the first year for my son's clothes, then I started using All Free & Clear and it works great,free of allergens, dermatologist recommended, not too expensive when on sale and always have coupons from paper.

I make my own too! I use a slightly different recipe http://www.duggarfamily.com/recipes.html I use Ivory soap because I can't find the Fels Naptha anywhere around me. I made a five gallon bucket full in the fall and I'm still using it! I store it in the bucket and then fill and old empty detergent container as needed. It works great, is so so so super cheap and is gentle enough to use on anything and everything. I think it was a total of $12.00 to get everything I needed and it will make four or five batches. Doesn't get much cheaper than that!

I have used Purex for years. It is cheap and I have had no problem w/it cleaning our clothes. With a 3 year old I spray his clothes like crazy and along w/spot cleaner and Purex the clothes come clean.

I use Purex. It is less than half of what it costs for Tide. I have used it for years due to my sensitive skin I cannot use most brands. Target usually has it for the lowest price and they have coupons quite regularly in the paper. For my kids I use the Target's off brand of Dreft. It has the same ingridients and it is much less. Hope this helps.

I use All Free and Clear for all of our clothes. It works really well and doesn't have all those dyes and frangrances that my family is sensitive too.

If you can afford a membership to Costco there detergent Kirklands if as good if not better than Tide. I used it til my world crashed. We no longer are able to work and have no way to get a membership plus they don't except food stamps so for me it's a why bother. I do miss the detergent. It's the best. It doesn'r fade the clothes, has a light pleasent scent and lower in cost by far from Tide and I use to buy only tide.

We use Gain. Consumer Reports lists it as a "Best Buy." and we like it. They even have lots of varieties of scents so hopefully there's something you like.

I use Gain. I really like it, I also buy it at Family Dollar. I used to use Arm & Hammer with OxiClean but it was also getting to expensive. I really liked it though.

I use All Free. I get a large container (110 loads i think) from BJ's. It's the cheapest I've found and it works great.

About a year ago my family really started trying to save money as well. A friend recomended Purex so I tried it. It works great and smell nice. In addition to it being much cheaper than Tide, there are often coupons in the Sunday paper for it. Good, luck hopefully this will help.

We use Dynamo - b/c every couple of weeks Meijer has it buy one get two free! My kids have extremely sensative skin and we have never had a problem with washing their clothes in it. And the smell is petty neutral - which is what I prefer... I think all together for 3 containers it equals to $12 or so dollars.

I've used Purex which worked well and is often on sale, then Gain and lately Arm/Hammer (my husband likes the smell) but in my quest for more environmentally friendly and less toxic for my family I've been looking for alternatives. Right now I'm using Charlie's Laundry detergent and it's less than 20cents a load. So far, so good...though my husband misses his chemical smell. In terms of the common detergents like Tide and the others mentioned try using half the recommended amount to stretch it especially for less soiled loads. Charlie's has to be ordered for anyone interested: http://www.charliesoap.com/ordernow.asp