Laundry detergent not in a bottle

[pinkytoe]

Interesting product. I might try them. It irks me that detergent is now in plastic bottles. I was told that many stores in hispanic markets still stock powdered detergent in a cardboard box.

[frugal-one]

I'm like Tammy--I do about 3-4 loads a week. Whites, regular clothes, and towels. Occasionally something big. But we don't wash towels every time we use them. Most of the time, the towels are clean after you get out of the shower. I also get a couple of wearings out of my clothes, especially in the winter when I'm inside most of the time.

Same here. We only do full loads too. We separate the delicates from the heavier. Maybe we are bigger than you and it takes up more washer space????? I don't get it.

[Rogar]

I have wondered lately if during winter when a person isn't doing outdoor work or home projects if there is really a need for detergent at all. Or at least much of the time. I don't know of a way to test the idea, but I only use small amounts of detergent in the winter. I do like the idea of detergent sheets. I'm at about 3 loads a week and usually wash jeans separately and line dry weather permitting. Everything else is washed in cold water and not separated and I've not noticed any issues with whites getting dingy. But hey, I'm a guy.

[Tammy]

I don't know how you get by with just 3 loads a week. We have whites, towels, sheets, delicates plus heavier (jeans, pants) and sometimes blankets, etc. There are 2 of us and we do about 6-8 loads per week. Interesting how lives vary.

We don’t wear jeans. Or delicates. All of our clothing is Cotten poly blend washable type. We have almost no whites and those we do get washed with everything. Cold water and colors don’t run but most of our clothing is darker anyway. We don’t dress up. Casual all the time. Towels get thrown in with clothing. Sheets washed separately but only 1-2 times a month. I guess that would be extra loads. and throw rugs washed alone, a few times a year. And blankets separate also, but only every month or longer between washes. We wear things a few times before washing except for socks and underwear.

[ToomuchStuff]

I am just wondering if you could do something similar to the laundry companies and predesolve your powdered detergent in water, before pouring it in the machine?

[Teacher Terry]

I actually don’t know how much laundry I do. I wash our sheets every 2 weeks. We use towels more than once. I wash the dog beds and bedding in their crate monthly as well as throw rugs. Even with downsizing my clothes I can go a month before having to wash them. These detergent sheets sound great. Plus they make a fragrance free.

[Tradd]

For those who make their own, I’ve been reading that it can cause your clothes to be gray and not that good for washing machines. Maybe the front end loaders?

[jp1]

For two of us we do 3-4 loads per week. When I was single I did two loads once every two weeks. I think we're using more detergent since moving because the water here is a lot harder than it was in the city so it takes more detergent per load. I'm intrigued by the sheets of detergent, but recently I got 3 safeway receipt coupons for half off any detergent so we now have 3 ginormous bottles of detergent that I got for $9.99 apiece so it'll be quite a while before we need more.

[razz]

For those who make their own, I’ve been reading that it can cause your clothes to be gray and not that good for washing machines. Maybe the front end loaders?

I bought the most basic top-loading agitator-based Kenmore laundry set over six years ago when I moved. It works well, colours stay fresh and most whites stay white. It seems that the fabric itself might be contributing to the graying. Maybe hanging my laundry in the sun helps as well. There is little in my life to complicate my laundry practices.

Several friends tell that their fancy front-load bulky systems fail at five years just past warranty and repairs are cost-prohibitive.
Appliances in general seem to be built with obsolescence in the design from what I am hearing lately. For years, my freezer, fridge, stove and laundry lasted for decades. Of course, they were basic in design and didn't have the computerized technology with extra features that people seem to want these days.

Thinking back over six years ago as I was looking for the new appliances, I was impressed with the elaborate appearance of all the appliances, the new features and I was tempted, I confess. It was like going to a new car show and seeing all the elaborate sparkling features displayed under bright lights. Then I walked by the simple laundry set that I eventually bought and it was as though, the lights suddenly were all turned off and I saw what I really needed. After that, any temptation was gone and I felt that I had awakened up from a hypnotic trance. Anyone else have that happen?

[SteveinMN]

For those who make their own, I’ve been reading that it can cause your clothes to be gray and not that good for washing machines. Maybe the front end loaders?

I bought the most basic top-loading agitator-based Kenmore laundry set over six years ago when I moved. [snip]

DW makes the detergent we use. Apparently there are as many recipes for it as there are for beef stew. Neither one of us could say that this detergent makes our clothes gray. My hunch is that it does something to our towels, because, over time, they get pretty useless for soaking up water. But we've bought some pretty crummy towels over the past years so maybe the detergent is not to blame.

We're cruising along with the low-end Frigidaire front-loaders I bought 15+ years ago. (The same boxes were sold as Kenmores and GEs). Conventional wisdom said they weren't supposed to last more than ten years, so we've been on borrowed time for a while. They make a little more noise than they used to, but they're still going strong. They'll die before we replace them.

Several friends tell that their fancy front-load bulky systems fail at five years just past warranty and repairs are cost-prohibitive.
Appliances in general seem to be built with obsolescence in the design from what I am hearing lately. For years, my freezer, fridge, stove and laundry lasted for decades. Of course, they were basic in design and didn't have the computerized technology with extra features that people seem to want these days.

We've been advised, as we replace appliances, that every one we replace will not last as long as the existing item did. We buy fairly simple appliances. The refrigerator does not offer ice or water in the door (in fact, we disconnected the ice maker since we'd rather have the freezer space than the ice). I wanted the simplest box I could find because spending $3,000 (as our kids did) for a box that will last just ten years seems ridiculous to me. Even the furnace guys told us to not expect from the new furnace the 20-odd years we got from the old one. Manufacturers have stopped over-engineering and over-building appliances and almost all of them are far more efficient (in use) than they were; that and the constant struggle to maintain profit margins have reduced appliance life by years (sometimes even decades).

Fortunately cars last much longer than they used to...