Laundry. As a member of the human race, it is unavoidable. As a parent of young children it is even more unavoidable. Perhaps you are one of those lucky few who are able to pay someone else to take care of all of the laundry in your household. If you aren’t so lucky, you probably fall into one of two camps – you either love doing laundry, or you tolerate it and just do it because really there is no other choice.
Regardless of where you fall, you do need to find a laundry detergent that works for you and your family. This month, we tried out 5 different laundry detergents to see if there really is one that reigns supreme when it comes to getting clothes clean.
For each laundry detergent, we look at the following: price range, ingredients, and final results:
Tide – $9.99/24 load bottle
Green Works – $13.99/30 load bottle
Nature Clean – $11.99/30 loads
Seventh Generation – $10.99/33 loads
DIY Liquid Detergent – approx $1.50 (or less)/33 loads
The Dirty on Laundry Detergent
Tide -Tide is perhaps one of the oldest and most well-known names when it comes to laundry detergent. Dana often opts for Tide (liquid for everyday clothing and powder for cloth diapers) because she and her family like the level of clean they get with it. With so many different formulations, Dana feels that anyone can find a variety that works for their family.
Nicole, on the other hand, will not touch Tide with a 10-foot pole due to the chemicals in the detergent and feels that far better choices are available when it comes to doing your laundry (she has not found a variety of Tide that she likes one bit!). Plus, she’s currently boycotting P&G (Proctor and Gamble), which is the company that makes Tide.
Green Works -Dana used Green Works laundry detergent for years and loved that it provided a greener option for her family’s needs. The main reason she stopped using it was it became increasingly difficult to find at her local stores. Compared to conventional brands, she found it worked just as well, and the price per load was definitely impressive, but it is not always carried at all retailers. Also, some people who lean toward supporting greener brands aren’t comfortable using Green Works products because they are manufactured by Clorox, while others feel that it’s important to support and encourage big brands that produce eco-friendly product lines (such as Green Works).
Nature Clean -Nature Clean is a great brand. Nicole used Nature Clean liquid detergent for years and found that it worked just as well as conventional brands. She especially liked that her children with sensitive skin never reacted in the least to this brand of detergent. The only reason she stopped using it was because she discovered how to make DIY eco-friendly laundry detergent that is much less expensive.
Seventh Generation -Seventh Generation laundry detergent is good. Like Nature Clean, the cost is more than conventional brands, but it gets the job done. No eco-friendly detergent is going to “whiten your whites” like detergents with chemical optical brighteners, but is that really necessary anyhow?! We have no complaints about Seventh Generation. The ingredients are good and the results are good too.
Both Seventh Generation and Nature Clean now offer more types of detergent: you can buy concentrated liquid (in a variety of scents), detergent packs (unscented), or powdered detergent.
DIY Liquid Detergent -After having her fourth child, Nicole found the cost of using eco-friendly laundry detergents on her mountains of laundry was getting to be a bit much. She did some savvy googling and found this recipe for Borax-free DIY liquid laundry detergent. The total cost of the ingredients was ridiculously inexpensive ($6 for washing soda, $3 for baking soda, and $10 for castile soap). The box of washing soda is huge and will last about 5 years (at least). The baking soda and castile soap will need to be restocked every year or so, depending on how much laundry you do. So, the cost is $10-20 for a year’s worth of laundry soap. Nicole finds that each 2 gallon batch lasts her 3-4 months (and she does a minimum of 2-3 loads of laundry every day).
Does DIY detergent work as well as the brand name stuff? Yes, it Nicole’s opinion it does. The above recipe does clump up a bit when it’s being stored, but the clumps go away in the machine and no residue from the detergent is left on the clothes. Nicole finds that her clothes actually look even cleaner than they did when she used other natural detergents like Nature Clean and Seventh Generation. She also adds about 20 drops of essential oils to her solution to add a nice scent (citrus oils or lavender work well).
Overall Rating
Tide: Dana says 4 stars; Nicole says 0 stars
Green Works: 4 stars
Nature Clean: 4 stars
Seventh Generation: 4 stars
DIY Laundry Liquid: 5 stars
To sum things up, Nicole and Dana had strongly differing opinions on Tide. They felt that Green Works, Nature Clean, and Seventh Generation are all good choices but, if you can find the time, you’ll get the most bang for your buck by making your own laundry detergent.
Tell us: Which laundry detergents do you love or hate? Why?
Disclosure: This article is unsponsored.
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