The 'Scoop' on Powdered Laundry Detergent

When we started using cloth, we switched detergents for all of our laundry. I did lots of research and already knew we needed to stop using fabric softener (thank goodness wool dryer balls softens everything up!), but I hadn't considered the residue left behind from using different detergents. At that time, we were using a Free & Clear liquid detergent for laundry, and powdered detergent for our diapers. I got samples of BumGenius detergent, Rockin' Green detergent, and Tiny Bubbles.

It wasn't too long into our cloth diapering adventure when my husband washed some massage sheets with the 'cloth diaper' detergent, Tiny Bubbles. Okay, so it's not only for cloth.... we just only used it on cloth. For the first time in years, his massage sheets smelled clean! They looked better, smelled better, and had less chemicals on them because the 'cloth diaper' detergent had very few ingredients. He then asked me if we could just use that detergent for everything from that point on. We sent the liquid home with my mother (might as well not waste it!), and used our Tiny Bubbles on everything after that.

Since then, I've gone through trial and error with the amount of my detergent. I wasn't using enough at first because I cut the amounts in half (I have a front-loader, HE machine)... but Tiny Bubbles is apparently formulated for HE machines, so I shouldn't have done that. *sigh* Then I had too many bubbles and was running a ridiculous amount of rinse cycles to ensure all the bubbles were out. That's when simplicity really should have been looked at: HOT WATER. Sure, the diapers got washed on HOT, but I had read a long time ago that dissolving the detergent before adding it would work wonders.

It does.

I just heat up some water in the microwave now (or even hot tap water) and stir the detergent in. When it's mostly dissolved (note I said "mostly" and not "completely"), I just add it into the detergent spot. I'll add a wee bit more hot water to the container to get the residue out and voila! So you could totally dissolve the detergent, but I never seem to think about it when I would have enough time to bother with it. My diapers are getting every bit as clean, and now need none of those extra rinse cycles!

As far as detergents go, I'd like to say that I like ALL THREE detergents mentioned above. I just went with the Tiny Bubbles as our main detergent in the beginning because my husband said he wanted to use "only this detergent" (meaning what got his sheets clean), so I bought that one. I would highly recommend any of the above detergents, however. Also, while Tiny Bubbles and BumGenius Detergents have the exact same ingredients, Rockin' Green has the awesome scents!