Alternatives to Smol washing liquid and softener?

[NorthSouthcatlady]

We have been using Smol for a while, but lm not that impressed by its cleaning abilities and the way the laundry smells afterwards. Please could anyone suggest any environmentally friendly alternatives e.g. no plastic packaging etc?

I use smol, I think I've gone nose blind to the smell now. Which was the main reason I bought it. Not impressed but their fabric conditioner at all.

@Toddlerteaplease yeah the fabric softener got it’s marching orders last week. Next is the washing liquid but l need a replacement

I probably also should have mentioned the water is very hard where we live, which probably doesn’t help either

I love the smell of Lidl's liquid. But it's not as eco friendly.

@NorthSouthcatlady

We have been using Smol for a while, but lm not that impressed by its cleaning abilities and the way the laundry smells afterwards. Please could anyone suggest any environmentally friendly alternatives e.g. no plastic packaging etc?

Glad you said this! Only works for me if I use 5+ tabs in a load! Would love an alternative as love the way it's just delivered to my door and can be recycled.

I'm a fan of ecover.
their bio powder works very well and has a nice scent but you can get scent free as well.

@OttilieStonelady exactly! I love the packaging and delivery but lm now using 3 tabs. 3 still doesn’t feel like enough…

We use Splosh, have done for years. Might be worth a try?

I quite like the dishwasher/washing tablets but the fabric softener wasn't great. I love the ethos of it (no animal fats) but I do like a fragranced load.

I'm in a hard water area and use ecover non-bio powder, dosed up to the hard water recommended amount. It has a nice light fresh smell (I really hate overly scented products) I don't use fabric conditioner, I use white vinegar with a few drops essential oil. Also the ecover laundry bleach is a recent discovery - excellent for school shirts!

You need to be using washing powder rather than laundry liquid. Powder contains bleaching agents. Laundry doesn't.

Laundry liquid doesn't contain bleach.

Love SMOL. One tab is fine, occasionally use two. No problems

miniml I haven't used their clothes washing liquid, but love some of the other stuff.
I reckon laundry is one place you don't need liquids and just use powder in a cardboard box.

I use an Eco Egg and am happy with that. It cleans well enough - I cut my hand and bled on my clothes, I've spilled stuff while cooking, I've had somewhat gross things from dogs - all clean. Then again, I do live in a soft water area so the softening is fine. Not sure how the softening in it would be in a hard water area.

I used an eco egg and my washer developed mould and smelled awful, so I went back to washing powder.

I second Splosh, which come in concentrated pouches. I use their products for laundry, washing up, kitchen cleaners, bathroom cleaners, hand wash etc. and they have all been fab. Proper cleaning ability, but also eco.

Think they do a referral code - message me if you want one.

There's a refill shop near me so I take my empty bottles there and just refill. Its the Minmal stuff they have so its really nice, a lot cheaper and no extra packaging

@purplesequins l got some ecover as a stop gap and lm liking it so far

I’m going to give Splosh a whirl. Thanks for the recommendations everyone

I use splosh but for laundry I went back to using powder (cardboard boxes recycle nicely).

I go to a refill shop too for all cleaning products. They stock a brand called ‘fill’ which smells amazing - neroli I think my laundry detergent is….fig is the hand wash and ginger the dish soap (sounds weird but actually lovely). You can buy massive boxes of the stuff with taps on to refill glass bottles online.

I'm happy enough with the laundry tablets, but the fabric softener is crap.

The dishwasher tablets absolutely wrecked my hardcore stainless steel pots that I'd had for years. I emailed them to say this might be a problem, don't want any compensation, but you might want to check into this, and got a really patronising response. Pissed me right off!