eco balls (merged)

starbee

I've tried all three. I use Ecover bio powder (much more economial than tablets) for whites on a 30 deg wash, then alternate ecover with ecoballs for light colours, dark colours and delicates, all at 30 deg. Both do a good job for OH's shirts (slightly whiffy) and excercise clothes. Ecoballs don't seem to get whites white enough compared with Ecover, though it has no whiteners in either.
I liked the cleaning effect of soapnuts but found a problem with leaving washing and nuts in machine. If they were left for more than a few minutes, (which is often the case when trying to juggle the post-work evening chaos ) they left a mark on lighter clothes, which then needed washing again, kind of missing the point of using them!
Btw the ecover stain remover with the pink lid is the best stain remover I've ever tried. The included brush means you can work it into the stain and it smell of lavander rather than chemicals. Highly recommended!

Happyroly

This looks a very good offer for anyone wanting to try the wash balls
Natures Wisdom - pack of 3 balls + 3 refill washing balls + stain remover stick. Usual price £32, sale price to the end of August £14.98.
http://www.natureswisdom.co.uk/item--***ESSENCE-OF-THE-MONTH***-EVO3-SPK--Flower+Essences.html
Also the 2 ball pack is reduced from £25.95 to £12.97

thifty

has anyone tried washing their nappies with these? i wash my nappies and wraps at 60 deg and dry outside to bleach out any stains. Am just a bit dubious that they would work on something so smelly!

mummyjane

I tried these for a couple of months but to be honest I couldn't get on with them. We have two small children (4 and 6) as well as the dog and cat and I work out a few times a week. I found that none of the marks were coming out the clothes. I ended up converting back to ecover powder as it drove me mad. On the plus side, it did freshen clothes up nicely if they had no marks so it was ok for darker clothing in particular. I would stick with soapnuts if it were a choice between them as at least they get the marks out better.

Jane x

Just to add, I would stick to soapnuts for nappies, they do a great job and you can't beat sunshine for getting rid of any nasty stains (not that we are getting much at the moment :rolleyes: ).

Dreaming_debtfree_dreams

Thanks for all the replies, I've got some eco balls now, and so far so good. I tend to religiously check clothes for stains and treat them first so haven't noticed the difference with getting marks out, but still have some Bio-D washing powder for the mega mucky stuff.

bigpaws23

for whiffs, you can spray white vinegar straight onto clothes - say underarms and socks before washing,

arkonite_babe

MOVING THREADS FOR BETTER RESPONSES

Hi, Martin’s asked me to post this in these circumstances: I’ve asked Board Guides to move threads if they’ll receive a better response elsewhere (please see this rule) so this post/thread has been moved to another board, where it should get more replies. If you have any questions about this policy please email [EMAIL="abuse@moneysavingexpert.com"]abuse@moneysavingexpert.com[/EMAIL]

cmh4135

Must confess my eco-balls have been consigned to the back of the cupboard. They just don't work in my machine at all (a modern Bosch).

Volcano

"Eco-balls" come in 2 types:

Those that you top-up with chemicals work the same as using a small amount of detergent in your wash.

Those that are chemical-free are a scam, the method by which it's claimed they work is scientifically impossible and a blatant lie.

Water-only is perfectly acceptable for all but the most stubborn stains and strong odours (hence why these things come with a stain remover!)

If you are an advocate of these things, try your next wash without them, you'll notice no difference.

shirefairy

I tried eco balls and too be honest they were not very effective on anything whiffy or worn more than once. They worked well on clothes that had just been worn once or very lightly stained. But I quickly realised that it was no better than if I just washed with no eco balls. So now i don't use anything for lightly soiled stuff and ecover powder for everything else. I do have a fairly new machine which I think is very effective a cleaning all by itself.

I'd recommend trying a regular wash without anything - you may be surprised by the results...hopefully in a good way