What's Your Favorite Laundry Detergent?

[gandpsmommy]

All Free and Clear liquid. The big "tap" bottles are frequently on sale at Target. I do boost my detergent frequently with either baking soda, Borax, Oxyclean powder or if it is REALLY bad, Biz.

 

I wonder if I'm spending the so much on supplemental boosters, though, that a more-expensive, more effective brand would be a better solution...

 

I've tried "greener" brands (Method, 7th Generation, the Costco environmental friendly brand), and they just haven't gotten the stink out of DH's bike-commute clothing, though. I HAVE to soak his stuff with baking soda or Borax, or the smell lingers.

 

We used to buy Tide (a long time ago), thinking it was far superior to any other brand. But, even then we had to use a pre-treater to get out stains. We have been using All for several years now and really like it. IMO, it works just as well as Tide, at a much lower price. Now, I'll add a little Borax or bleach in the load if I'm doing a load of whites or if I have something that's heavily stained (e.g. kids' dinner napkins), but for the most part, I just use All and it works great! When the kids were younger and consistently got stains all over their clothes, I pre-treated with Shout and had excellent results.

[gandpsmommy]

The easiest way to boost detergent is to add a small squirt of Dawn. That is by far the BEST stain remover I have found. That you can get for almost free on sale and with coupons.

 

This is a good suggestion. When dd was 2 she got ketchup all over a brand-new dress. Our usual standby, Shout, didn't get it out. So I called the Shout hotline and they suggested rubbing the stains with dish soap before washing them again. It worked.

[CalicoKat]

Life Tree.

 

I bought a gallon of it to try and it's great. The clothing is so soft. It reminds me of the stuff I loved from Melaleuca, minus the monthly membership fees.

[laughing lioness]

Sams brand. Only thing that doesn't make me sneeze.