Washing powder vs tablets?

nabowla

I have a confession to make. I've no idea what the difference is beetween washing powder, washing tablets and liquid washing stuff

Is one product more effective than the others or just less messy to use? At the moment I use tablets but it occurred to me that I could buy brand-name powder for the same price as the own-brand tablets I buy at the moment. I'd be interested to hear what you all use and why.

MrsB_2

The tablets tend to be less economical because you're given a predetermined amount of powder to use - ie the tablet. Usually they tell you that you need FAR more than you really do, so whereas a box of powder may say you need to use a 'scoop' pf powder per load, you'll normally find you only really need half a 'scoop'.

They're purely packaged as tablets as a gimmick IMHO and are just another way for them to charge more for less - there's no thought or mess involved with the tablets or caplet things, so people assume they must be better.

Have a look at Kiwichicks thread about washing powder and soda crystals too.

HTH

Ronankfan

I use the washing powder and soda crystals mix and its fantastic - i have saved so much money it is well worth a go.
HTH

squeaky

Hiya, there's a recent thread, still active, talking about HM laundry mixes which might be of interest:-

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=129142

comping_cat

I prefer the washing powder, i always use half the recommended amount, and my washing always comes out clean and fresh!!!!

black-saturn

I use the tablets but I only use 1 instead of 2 and my washing always comes out OK. Then I use the boxes from them to post ebay stuff out in.

frosty

I buy whatever is on special offer,at the moment our local costcutter has surf (1kg) on offer at £2.50 for 2 boxes,so I will stock up on this.If the tablets are on a good offer I will buy them and I only use one tablet.

elisebutt65

I do that as well- Only ever get whatever's on offer!!

I find sometiemds the tablets that you put into the machine, rather than the drawer, don't dissolve properly if you use 2 of them and end up with powder all over clothes so have to rinse them again!!

My favourite though is washing liquid or liquitabs, but again, only get iot when it's on offer.

Also email persil & bold telling them how much you lurve their products etc , adn usually get a few voucher through - lol

se999

I've swapped back to powder.

Firstly in France the boxes say exactly how much you need to use for each area depending on the water hardness, in some areas it is less than half of others. In the UK it doesn't normally, and with tablets it says either one or two, etc and presumably they play it safe on their recommendations! So with powder you can adjust the amount to clean thoroughly for your area, without wasting.

Also for half-loads and economy washes you can adjust the amount of powder easily, cutting up tablets defeats the object!!

I was also finding sometimes the tablets don't dissolve properly too, which makes just as much of a mess as the powder did.

I do think it has probably saved me money, but not actually calculated.

My other pet hate on the tablets is the packaging wastage of all those tablets wrapped up in pairs, at least with powder there's only the one box, which is normally cardboard so not too bad.

I am planning to look into some of the more enviromentally friendly 'old style' methods soon

Penny-Pincher!!

Ive buying the Persil liquid huge bottles from Makros. I get 2 x 100 wash Persil liquid gels for £8.99 + Vat=£10.56 for 200 washes, so thats 5p a wash:j
Bought 2 packs last time and still on my 1st one, should last me about 7 months. So the cost I think is very fair.

PP
xx

Edinburghlass_2

Whatever it tells you on the box to use in your washing machine, half the amount and if you have soft water, half again.

Any repair man will tell you that most problems are caused by too much powder/liquid going into washing machines.

I stick to basic powder as then I don't have to fiddle cutting up tablets