saving money on washing powder

donna73

hi i'm sure i'm not alone in having the washing machine on every day!!! where does it all come from?

I've swapped to using tesco non bio, instead of big brands persil etc. i was wondering if anyone uses value powder is it ok ?

also is lidl washing powder ok?

i'm sure i've read on here about making up own washing powder, but cant find it at the mo. i think it had half washing powder and half something else

i'm not sure whether i would be ok to use a concoction as we're not on mains drains, we have a sess pit in the garden.( great for saving on water rates)

any help on this gratefully received:D

absfabs

Siince reading hints on this forum for the last couple of months, I have halved the amount of detergent I put in each machine load ( I use the tabs, both branded and supermarket's own when there are no special offers).

And the laundry comes out just as clean and fresh smelling with one tablet as it did with two.

Bought some Lidl detergent last week, haven't tried it out yet.

P.S: a few days ago I put a dishwasher tab in the washing mashine drawer (it was one of those days!). I didn't realise til I put the machine on again the next day, the thing hadn't disolved with the cold fill, - but I had put the laundry ( a white wash!) away quite happily, not noticing any stains/odours.

Either we are very clean sweet smelling people in this family :rotfl: :rotfl:
or the washing machine action does most of the work any way, even without any detergent!

bigpaws23

I have found Lidls powder to be excellent in the past. I'm more of a 'greeny' now so use Ecover 9and I too, use half the recommended amount of powder) or the laundry gloop which might be the recipe you were looking for??

It's 2/3 of the way down the page under 'laundry':
http://houseofstrauss.co.uk/modules/wfsection/article.php?articleid=240

Bigpaws x

Bambywamby

I agree, the washing machine action really does most of the work. Unless clothes are particulalry dirty or sweaty most clothing (particularly coloureds)I just wash in cold water.

They tend to keep their colours longer too.

balmaiden

When I have a load of lightly soiled clothes I put them in without any soap at all, they always come out smelling and looking clean. I imagine there is soap lurking in there from previous washes, but I dont know if I am right. Also I only ever use half of recommended dosage, and again everything looks and smells fine.

donna73

thanks everyone. that website is great bigpaws.:j i'm going to have a go at some of the "recipes". i used to use ecover, but it was working out so expensive, but i'm going to try using half the amount of powder as you've all said and see how that goes.:T

Debt_Free_Chick

Lidl powder is just fine for us too.

I use only about 1/3rd of the amount suggested!

Dukie_Boy

Hi Donna,
We Switch To Aldi Liquid About £1-80 For 1 1/2 Litres
The Machine Got Blocked A Couple Of Years Ago With Old Powder So We Have Used Liquid Ever Since .they Have Three Types
Concentrated , Bio

Good Luck Dukie Boy

Lentilsforteaagain

Has anyone else tried using soap nuts? I tried them from a green point of view but actually they work out very cheap too, especially if you buy them in bulk.

I would say that you need to think a bit about how grubby your load of washing is though - you can re-use the soap nuts about 4 times or so but they get slightly less effective each time so I wash the grubbier loads first and do the "worn once" loads for last. If anything's REALLY grubby though, I use Tesco's own washing powder.

They reckon that £9 worth does around 300 washes but I don't think I can get quite that many out of them (though maybe I'm just using too many?)!

You can find soap nuts at https://www.inasoapnutshell.com and http://www.naturalchild.co.uk/ShopHome/en-gb/dept_106.html

Last time I bought £25 worth and they've lasted for months so far with 3/4 of the bag still there

Sharra

I use asda/sainsburys/tesco bargain basement powder and it seems fine - £1.50 for 3kg
I have to confess i got some soap nuts when they were giving a small amount away free, but my dog ate them! So I haven't got round to trying them. Whats the verdict from ppl that have been using them for a while?

lindab15

I know this probably isn't an option for everyone, but I've been really pleased with a drum of Costco's own brand washing powder I bought in October last year - cost me about £12 if I remember rightly.

Still over half a drum left, having done about 4 or 5 washings every week since then. A real saving on the £4 - or so for the tablets every few weeks ! Or it would be if I didn't go and buy the luxury-version Lenor fabric conditioner (got addicted after getting a free sample & pashmina courtesy of the MSE freebies board !!!) - also from Costco, though, so all is not lost !!

It's Non-bio (kids sometimes react to Bio stuff) and seems to be doing the job easily as well as the Tesco Advance non-bio tablets I was using before. I hesitated for ages as it semed a huge amount to buy when I didn't know if it would be OK or not !

One of the many items which have made my Costco fee a good investment !!

Definitely recommend this if you have the room to store it and you have a Costco card/know a friend who does.