Saturday, March 7, 2009

Laundry Soap Reviews

I recently purchased this laundry soap from the Kirkland Brand aka: Costco.
I had a coupon for a few $$ off and I figured why not.

I was sadly disappointed in the item however.
Now don't get me wrong---Costco, I LOVE them. They are one of my favorite places to shop even if it is the $100 min store. (I swear everything is at least $10)
What got me was the spout where the liquid came out. As you can see in the picture its one of those spouts where you push on the red button and it comes out into the cup.
But that was the problem.
When you put the liquid into the cup it made a HUGE mess when putting the cup back on the jug. now you might be saying, "Well duh you have to rinse it off if you don't want a mess." But AHHHh see now that's the rub.

If I rinse it off won't I be using more water and in turn wasting more of the laundry soap by just washing it down the drain??
That's my thing.
What a waste.
Not to mention it had a funny sweet off smell that gave off the scent of heavily scented that I try to avoid these days. It didn't smell bad, it just didn't smell natural. This is what I get for using all those natural products and getting used to such a light scent, if any scent.
However you do need to give Costco props for making a very eco-friendly line of products offered in large sizes. What is so frustrating about trying to be more earth friendly is many times the "better for the environment" products are A LOT more $$ then their counterparts AND are smaller.
If you can deal with that funky spout then by all means, its still excellent for the environment. Here is what their bottle says:
-biodegradable cleaning agents
-made from bio-renewable resources
-cruelty-free, no animal testing
-plant based cleaning agents
-contains no phosphates or dyes
While it wasn't for me, maybe you will have better results.
VERDICT: Thumbs down. Pass on it due to the poor packaging that creates waste and for some reason you have to use more soap then what most HE washers require.
What did I do with it then? Well I returned it after having given it a chance for one week and wrote Costco about the item. The lady at the return desk seemed a little peeved I brought back a laundry bottle with soap all over the side. But I told her that's why I don't like it--it makes a MESS. She gave me my $$ back anyway. Costco does that. yay Costco. Just make a better bottle.
Thankfully Costco offers another brand in their stores that is more eco-friendly AND smells great.
The Ecos Laundry Detergent is great. I am on I believe my 3rd bottle and its so super concentrated that it lasts FOREVER. You don't have to use hardly anything and its completely 100% natural.
They also are an excellent company that pays careful attention to the Environment and producing their products.
I was skeptical when I first bought the jug from Costco, but I was easily won over by the light scent and how clean it truly made things. Its just a well rounded item. And the other great part is the bottle cleans MORE loads then the Kirkland brand in a smaller bottle. Their design on the cap is also easy to not create waste as if anything is left in the lid it drains back into the bottle.
BUT I'll leave it up to you all to decide on which one you like better. In the world of Laundry, Ecos has my vote for best liquid laundry detergent.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

I had this same experience.... I had been using the ecos and thought that I would try the new KS brand... if you don't put the cap back on the bottle the way it comes it fills up with dried (left over) soap. Pretty soon you can't fill the cup and have to wash it out. I had to this many times. I went back to ecos and won't be trying anything else anytime soon. Stick with what works. I however did like the smell of the KS brand. I also like their multi purpose cleaner. Try that! :)

Karen Bodie said...

You are supposed to toss the measuring cap into the washer with the clothes. The directions on the package instruct you to do this so that the cup gets rinsed out and you don't end up wasting any soap.