Save Loads On Your Laundry!

the_biker

Why waste money on soap powders to wash our clothes. It’s like using a sledge hammer to crack a nut – every time. Needless pollution and needless expense.

We’ve all been fooled into thinking this is the way. (It is – for Unilever, Procter and Gamble etc,)

We use ‘ecoballs’ - go to

http://www.ecozone.co.uk/product_info.php?products_id=314&osCsid=a44a37ce07b24adc5993ef51f28110f6

We bought a set about 3 years ago and still use them on all our washes, though with whites you also need to use a little eco-friendly whitener or they may go grey. Or you can use just a little detergent, also if your clothes are really dirty, which they rarely are for many of us. We used to buy Persil as regularly as anyone on our visits to the supermarket. Now it’s extremely rare, and we’ve saved a small bundle. The claims on the Ecozone site are absolutely true. The cost of a typical wash comes down to about 3p instead of 30p.

I’ve given some to friends and family, and sold a few too. I bought in a small wholesale quantity and sell them for £30, but I’m not pushing for sales. I’d love them to be used more widely on principle and am more than happy for Ecozone to do the business.

If you like your clothes to be whiter than white then Ecoballs may not be for you. But if you like your clothes clean, care about the environment, and want to make easy savings on your laundry, we think they are great.

Js_Other_Half

Your'e not alone in liking them - someone else was talking about them before Christmas:- http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=15865&highlight=laundry+balls

System

Hi,

I have used Ecoballs but they didnt last me that long and cost rather a lot to replace.

Thumbs up from me i think, but its a pity they were so dear to start with.

arkonite_babe

I found the one I have is running down very quickly as well. I like the idea, just not the cost of replacing it every few weeks.

If there is a longer lasting alternative that someone knows about, can you let us in on it?

student100

Ha! I'm afraid to say you're rather gullible.

"Ecoballs"? Load of balls more like.

Various tests have been done and are well-documented on the internet that show that these things don't do a single thing to help your wash. They act as a placebo so that people are happy not using any detergent in the wash.

The fact is that for lightly soiled clothing, water alone, with no detergent, is enough to get them clean. If there are stains on the clothing, they won't come off - which is why these laundry balls come with stain remover - which is more or less the same as normal detergent anyway.

So the answer to the question " If there is a longer lasting alternative that someone knows about, can you let us in on it?", is yes, there is a longer-lasting alternative. It's called WATER.
If your clothes are soiled or greasy, then some DETERGENT will help too.
But unless you're washing football kits or mechanic's overalls you probably don't need as much detergent as it says on the box.


If you don't believe me, try typing "laundry balls" into Google - here are some of the results:

http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a4_007b.html
http://www.skepticfriends.org/forum/showquestion.asp?faq=2&fldAuto=25
http://www.sniggle.net/Laundry/index.php
http://www.commerce.state.ut.us/admin/lball.htm
http://www.optc.com/~btoback/laundrystuff.html


Oh, and I think the reason that yours seemed to work but is now "running down rather quickly", is that for the first few washes there would have been some residual detergent left in the washer, and in the clothes, which is now washing away, and showing just how ineffective the laundry ball is.

elona

If anyone wants an alternative then have a look on the moneysaving old style where there is a recipe for laundry gloop.

You could also buy value biological powder from Tesco or Sainsburys and mix it with a bit of the more expensive stuff.

I used a tip I found on there to use a teaspoon of biological washing powder in my dishwasher and it works very well and saves a fortune - it is much cheaper than buying dishwasher liquid or powder.

culpepper

but just plain pummeling must get some of the dirt out so do they work on that principle or is it what they are made of that makes them clean the clothes?
Im using the laundry gloop that someone posted before christmas. I use it in a dosing ball I got from the freebies and im sure the dosing ball slamming around in the machine must help.
We have a thing called an easy washer that my mum gave us when we got married.Its a drum on legs that rotates and builds up pressure.You put the water and soap in and spin it by hand and that is quite effective at getting stuff clean.Only problem is,it cant spin the water out or anything.It was so useful when our washer broke and I had 2 toddlers in terry nappies.
They are still making them Ive seen them on the web.

wehavethepower

Well hate to rain on your parade student100 but I have ecozone ecoballs and they are absolutely brilliant they do get the clothes clean every time, soiled or not. I do not use any stain remover. The proof I say is in the pudding and I'm personally really glad I bought them! They're working for me!

kwatt

I hate to say it folks but Student is correct, they are a load of rubbish and don't work.

I work in the industry extensively on the repair side and these things cause problems with washing machines, end of story. They don't clean clothing at all all they do is release oxygenated air bubbles into the water and that's it, there's no magic involved.

Of course being in the privileged position of running an industry based website and also a brand owner, I asked the UK importer to provide data to support the claims being made... three times and, on two occasions there was no response. On the third they admitted that they had NO data to back up the claims being made at all.

I could go out tomorrow and claim that my own washing machine will run detergent free and, it will. It won't do the job well at all, but I can claim that you can do it and it's fully legal to do so as it isn't untrue.

What you have to realise is that 80% or more of the dirt on your clothes you don't see, things like sweat, skin flakes, grease from your skin, parasites and a host of other things , but not least of all bacteria and these all just love the nice warm wet interior of a washing machine, the perfect breeding ground for them. So after a time you may notice that your clothes start to smell a bit or, if you don't someone else may well do, because they haven't been cleaned properly.

The greying is because there's no bleach, again helps with cleaning whites. Whitener is often an optical brightener, not the same thing and doesn't do the same job. Optical brighteners are used extensively in colour detergents and liquids to compensate for the lack of bleach.

Sorry folks, but there's no magic bullet, just good bull.

K.

Neil_S_3

Sounds like a complete ripoff to me.

I'll stick with conventional washing liquid.

Ms_Piggy_2

As others have suggested - gloop is great, although not fab on whites.

Personally I stick with 'value' biological powder and use far, far less than the rec'd amount.

If clothes are 'worn' rather than dirty than a heaped tablespoon of powder + a teaspoon of soda crystals is adequate. Generally I use between 1/4 and 1/2 of what is suggested (and that's plenty!)

My value powder is 50p and lasts a good month.