Grow Your Own Magazine

Anyone tried these as an alternative to washing machine detergent?

You put a few of them into a little bag, pop it into your washing machine and as they go through the wash cycle they excrete a natural soap which takes the place of your powder or liquid.

Quite fancy giving it a try but wondered it anyone had done wso already.

Will watch this thread with interest as I have wondered likewise.

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Happy Gardening,
Shirley

http://www.honeyjukes.co.uk

If I'm not mistaken I think this 'may' have been discussed here before?

Not tried them but am interested to hear what results people have had. Also cost etc. Know they can be used several times before they run out of puff.

Oooo I'd be very interested in this too. Where can i get them from??

I've been using them for a while now. They wash the clothes fine, I use them twice and then compost them (bonus!). I tend to only use them on darker washes now, I thought the whites became a bit off white. A pack costing £4.99 lasts me at least 50 washes (I kept a count with the first pack). Now I've started to worry about the 'air miles' involved in getting them here...sigh

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I am Nobody
Nobody's perfect
Therefore, I must be perfect

Would you recommend they Comfrey? I heard that you an put a few drops of your favourite scented oil in the softener drawer for the final rinse.

Most of our washing is darks, lots of sports stuff courtesy of the OH with stinky football and kickboxing gear.

Heres a report on Soapnuts. UK Whitegoods - Domestic Appliance Help, Advice, Repairs & Spare Parts - Content

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I wish i could make a yo-yo work.
http://www.guerrillagardening.org/

I'd recommend them, still using them and I'll be buying more when this lot runs out. Have to say though I don't have to wash anything as extreme as sports kits anymore - my gardening gear is about as bad as it gets, but the nuts seem to deal with that ok.

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I am Nobody
Nobody's perfect
Therefore, I must be perfect

I'll be sticking with my Persil then.

I do love Dragons Den.

I didn't like them but do use those plastic ball things filled with something or other for bedding and towels - basically anything which isn't heavily soiled. You can use them tons of times. Tend to use Ecover for reallly dirty stuff.

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Some of us live in the past, always talking about back then. Some of us live in the future, always planning what we are going to do. And, then there are those, who neither look behind or ahead, but just enjoy the moment of right now.

Which one are you and is it how you want to be?

I was going to start using them but the lady selling them actually persuaded me otherwise(at the time washing nappies!)saying that they're fine for lightly soiled items/freshening up,but that she wouldn't reccomend them for heavily soiled stuff!I use a detergent called Ecos,although when i run out & can't get to the shop I've found the co-op's friendly detergent very good(& at the mo reduced!)

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the fates lead him who will;him who won't they drag.

Happiness is not having what you want,but wanting what you have.xx

They're ok, but no good for heavily soiled stuff. Beware of allergies though, I used them and my son's eczema flared badly, he gets a similar reaction with some ecover stuff too. Went back to Persil/Daz/Ariel/whatever is on offer at local farmers store.

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http://www.freewebs.com/notesfromtheplot/ **updated**

I read articles like these when I was first looking into soap nuts, but also many articles praising them. The internet is like statistics you can find something to support any point of view. So I decided to try them and make up my own mind and I was trying different products because my grandson is allergic to the usual washing products!

Like I say I don't use them for whites (probably 3 washes out of 5). They work fine for me and I've had no problems with smelly build up in the washing machine, but maybe that's because I'm using a combination of soap nuts and bio soap!

A lot of people react to soap powders because the machines aren't always efficient at rinsing soap out of the clothes and one of my machines had to be replaced because of a build up of soap powder - apparently they didn't make the parts anymore for a 4 year old machine (don't get me started on washing machine manufacture - built in obsolescence or what).

And the soap nuts are sold by Lakeland, so maybe the Dragon's didn't think they were worth backing, but Lakeland did!

__________________
I am Nobody
Nobody's perfect
Therefore, I must be perfect

I use them sometimes - not often as most of my washing is very grubby, thanks to a 2 year old and gardening! They don't seem to get my mud out!
I like the idea of them, but they're just not right for me at the moment!

I have been using them for about 6 months and am just onto my second box (4 of us including a 4 yr old and a 1 yr old). They wash fine. I normally use the ecover stainremover as well on anything dodgy.
I tell everyone about them. My family think I am nuts (for using soapnuts lol), but I like to think about the chemical side of things. I also use an essential oil in too. Smells lovely, we don't have that heavily perfumed washing smell that most of my friends have. I can smell next doors washing from our house!

I would recommend them.

janeyo

ps the pouch they send is rubbish so I use one of OH's old socks and tie it up instead!

I've been using Ecover for twenty years, but discovered the other day that they do animal testing - was pretty horrified, but they do say it's all harmless to aquatic life, so I suppose they've had to test it to know that.....pretty obvious really. Anyway it seems that the Vegan Society no longer recommend them (not that I'm vegan, but I do try to avoid anything that's been animal tested) I've ordered some soap-nuts, but they haven't arrived yet so I can't comment. My worry now is what about all the other cleaning products I'm going to need. I used Ecover for everything.