Can't believe I'm asking this - such a boring question! But do you think expensive washing powder is worth it?

[WideWebWitch]

sorry, I know it's boring but I'm very tight about certain things and am interesting in your views. I don't mind buying organic meat and decent brand names sometimes if I think they're worth it but I usually buy own brand cheapie washing powder as I resent the cost of the others. However, I'm not convinced it always gets things as clean as a brand name would. So, is expensive washing powder/tablets/liquid worth it? Does it really make a difference? And have you proved it? I won't be surprised or offended if no-one answers this!

Oh that Lakeland thingy!! Dearest MIL bought me one as a christmas present It even beat last year's avocado slicer for c**pest gift

PS SHe also got me Lakelands dry cleaning pad things, even more useless

Biological washing powders have enzymes in them that help to break down stains. These are good, but can trugger skin reactions. God! I'm ashamed of myself for knowing this......must get out more

MIL (who is fab and I love her to bits) buys the oddest things from Lakeland for me. Worst to date, a strawberry huller.

I use persil colour for us and fairy for dd.

Only ever wash at 30 degrees at the moment as stupid new house only has cold hose for wm and it won't go any higher without hot.

Amazingly everything gets clean!

Weeeell, spoke to someone this week who manufactures washing powder for a big name and...they're all the same! Only difference is the enzymes for bio and non-bio and the brightners to make it appear clean. Oh, and what flavour perfume in it.

waitrose own brand is rubbish! or is it that my ds is just a messier eater...

I get on fine with waitrose liquid

this is what I've been using and had no problems, no rashes,get clothes as clean as any of the others, and, I can get it from my local Poundland.

In NZ cold water washing is usual, they have special cold water products, I never had an issue with staining there with DS1
I use cold wash regularly here too to save leccy bill etc notice not diff, use vanish on any stain that looks like it might be a bother.

Blimey, bit surprised at so many responses but thank you! Hmm, might go even lower than normal then and buy Asda Smart Price (yuk!) rather than just Asda own bio. Scoobysnax, sometimes ds's clothes are just a bit grubby looking. But then stains are grass, mud and usual little boy things like toothpaste and yoghurt too, god, I'm boring myself even so I'll stop now

I think a small amount of the branded stuff (a tablespoon max) is better than the recommended amount of cheapie stuff.

I love threads like this :-)

FWIW,I use Tesco non bio and their "Pure" softener and I'm generally happy with them.

www, it is laundry combined with money-saving, both mumsnet winners! just wait till someone suggests gloop!

I use Tesco own brand washing powder and fabric conditioner and it works just fine. It really is surpring how much you save ££ using the supermarkets own brands againt the named products and also of the time the only thing stopping people buying own brand things is the snob factor. :-)

we use Asda's own. Logic non-bio for everyone and have no problems, lasts a while as well. Use a whitener when doing a load of whites. No fabric softener since that is just perfuming the clothes.

Detergents are like shampoos, they all need that one basic ingredient.

i use persil fizzy one for grubby bubby clothes but use the Tesco fabric conditioner.... I need to use a lot as the water here is horrid... very hard.

I made 'gloop' the last time there was a thread on it and it was horrible. The kids watched me grating and boiling soap convinced that I had finally flipped! DH came in and said 'that's surely not for dinner!'

I buy huge boxes of detergent from Costco, usually named brands although their own one is OK, and it works out really cheap. Need a huge cupboard to keep the huge box in though.

Bk silly me, of course!

Shop's own brands have exactly the same "active ingredients" as the big brands, its just the filler and perfume that's different. In a box of washing powder, only one third is "active" - the rest is just filler that's put there to make us feel that we're buying more than we actually are, if you see what I mean. I think it was some kind of 1950s marketing ploy.
I don't know about the active quantities in the liquids but they were initially manufactured as a gimmick to sell more laundry products as the washing powder market was getting a bit stale. Remember the ad with the gormless woman putting the liquid into the ball to "get to the heart of the wash"?
The tablets and capsules are manufactured to make us use, and therefore buy, set amounts of the products regularly. Powder and liquid lets us adjust the quantities of detergent to suit the size/type of our washing, which means that our buying habits are variable, but the tablets/capsules give us nicely measured little portions that ensure we buy the same amount each week.
And all that rubbish about the fizzy tablets getting your washing really clean - just bung a sterident in and you'll get the same effect!
Sorry to go on at such length but I hate being taken for a mug by a bunch of spotty ad execs. And I think you've probably guessed by now that I don't use the expensive stuff!

Good points Badhair.
I knew someone who worked for P&G and he told me that you only need to use about half the recommended amount of powder.
Having said that I use non bio tablets (Persil or Tesco) as I hate messing around with powder and liquids.

Ecover is not rubbish! it's great. we switched to it mainly becuase of dd's eczema which thankfully is pretty non existent now and we have stayed with it. I like the lack of horrible chemicals in it.

this thread is anything but boring
May I posit the theory that the hardness of local water supplies is making a difference to those who favour one product and those who have had no success with the same product?

WWW are you pro or anti bio powders?

If you are more comcerned with stain removal than with colour trueness/ white whiteness then bio powders are better - if you don't like the bios then you need very hot temperatures. The other factor is pre-treatment of stains asap in cold water with biotex or similar before the wash.

Maybe you could do a sponsored mumsnet consumer challenge - ask sponsors for £1 then write a consumer report on your findings - I would sponsor you!

PS you need to road test gloop and the weird lakeland washballs too!

I made gloop too. Only once though.

I found that my whites quickly got grimy looking - although I know that that is just because manufactured powders have special environmentally nasty whiteness enhancers - but I discovered that having white whites was more important to me than I had hitherto thought.

It also made my son come out in a rash (certain manufactured powders do the same - proof in my eyes that they are not all identical as some don't). That was the main reason I stopped making it.

Apart from the whiter than white and not being great at stain removal, it did get my clothes clean. If not for the rash issue I would probably have gone on making it to use for some washes - alternating it with Fairy, which is what I normally use. I like the smell too, Enid!