Soap Powder

grunnie

I buy either Tesco's or Asda's cheapest brand of bio soap powder Its stored in the bottom of my airing cupboard and I fill a small plastic tub to sit beside the washer. I use an old silver tablespoon as a measure -one spoonful per wash and that's all that's needed If you overfill your machine the washing will come out dirty. Also I don't use fabric conditioner. :j

£Ronnie

Ah... that might explain then why my son has developed a rash recently that dosent seem to be relieved by anything. May well swop back to the more expensive brands.

System

BrokeBrunette wrote:

At the moment I use Persil Colour Tablets and Persil White Tablets, combined with Comfort fabric softener. I've always been wary of using the cheaper brand of washing stuff as I guess I'm guilty of being a "brand name snob" to some degree. However finances don't allow me that luxury and I'm trying to cut down on things. I'm definitely going to try some of the other cheaper ones now as I could save a fortune I think :T :T :T

Have you considered going back to good ole fashioned powder? You can still buy Persil but in the powder form rather than tablets. Tablets are an expensive way of washing your clothes, and its not as easy to cut down on the amount used on a lightly soiled load.

PoshPaws_3

£Ronnie wrote:

Since starting our MSE'ing I have switched to tesco value powder and conditioner....however recently some of our clothers especially darrks and stronger cplours seem to have either a white residue or they are fading. I am only using about 2/3rds of a fromage frais pot per load. Is this too much?? I have rewashed one black jumper three times to see if it will remove the excess residue but it still looks the same, and feels like it is excess residue??????

Anyone got any ideas?

It sounds to me as though there might be a problem with the flow of water in the washing machine. I used to use tablets in ours - and stopped doing so because the same thing started happening with us. I called out the engineer to check it out (mainly because ours is rented, so I might as well make the most of being able to!) and he attributed it to the drum and pipes being fuzzed up and the correct flow of water not being able to arrive at the right time. We gave it a lot of treatment with good old Calgon and the problem was solved. Took about four goes before it stopped, however.

I haven't noticed the problem since I started using Calgon regularly and stopped using tablets.

BrokeBrunette

Judi wrote:

Have you considered going back to good ole fashioned powder? You can still buy Persil but in the powder form rather than tablets. Tablets are an expensive way of washing your clothes, and its not as easy to cut down on the amount used on a lightly soiled load.

Hi Judi

I have thought about it but the storage of large boxes of powder puts me off! I know it sounds stupid but I have a severe lack of storage space where I live and I never buy my washing tablets unless they are on offer. I guess I really do need to have a think about this as I have got to find lots of ways to cut down financially and this could be one of them.

Thanks for your reply - it's much appreciated

LITTLEMISSFLOWER

I Only Use Bold Now Smells Great And Good Value For Money Hope Your Sons Rash Goes Soon

heatherw_01

If you get a rash from the washing powder, you should probably use non-bio.

There are many own brands out there that are cheap.

Mr_Proctalgia

I use Morrisons Better Buy washing powder mixed fifty fifty with Washing Soda and use about 2/3 of a measure for a full wash. I use the cheapest bog standard malt vinegar I can find for the rinse. I have a spare 1/2 cup measure for the powder and a 1/3 cup measure for the vinegar. My washing comes out sparkly clean and smells fresh too, I think I can do about a years washing for £1.20 for powder and a similar amount for vinegar. My machine never clogs up and is sparkly clean now.

HTH

£Ronnie

PoshPaws wrote:

It sounds to me as though there might be a problem with the flow of water in the washing machine. I used to use tablets in ours - and stopped doing so because the same thing started happening with us. I called out the engineer to check it out (mainly because ours is rented, so I might as well make the most of being able to!) and he attributed it to the drum and pipes being fuzzed up and the correct flow of water not being able to arrive at the right time. We gave it a lot of treatment with good old Calgon and the problem was solved. Took about four goes before it stopped, however.

I haven't noticed the problem since I started using Calgon regularly and stopped using tablets.

Good thought but our machine is only 3 or 4 months old, and we started using Calgon when we got it but the cost was prohibitive. I am sure there must be an os way of doing the same job with bicarb and vinegar on the indexes thread somewhere.....off to search.

Dobie

Since reading OS I've started making my own soap powder. I used to use Ecover because I like to use environmentally friendly stuff when I can but the home made stuff is EF & SO much cheaper.
I THINK the recipe was posted by Queenie? (Thanks Queenie).
I just grate household soap & use two measures of that to one each of borax & washing soda. I use a tablespoonful & put it in one of those plastic ball thingies into the drum. The clothes come out clean, soft & smelling of nothing except fresh - just the way I like them.