ALDI to the Rescue!

After my recent post about Homemade Laundry Detergent and request for cheap alternatives, Molly recommended "Tandil" from ALDI. On my last trip to that store, I picked up a bottle for $6.99 / .07 a fluid oz. The label on the jug challenges me to "compare to Tide 2x" which I would do more thoroughly if either brand put their full ingredient list on it. All I know is that they are both phosphate free and come in almost identical bottles.

After my stop at ALDI I had to pick up a few things at Walmart and wanted to compare prices. Tide 2x was more than double the price! Soooooo, if it truly is the same as Tide, and your a big Tide fan, that's a deal! As I looked at the other brands, "All" regular strength ran about 8 cents an oz, and the Walmart generic was about 7.5 cents, close to Tandil. However, powdered detergent seems to be much cheaper. If you recall the homemade stuff was about 5 cents an oz. Arm & Hammer Laundry Detergent is about the same, and Gain comes in at about 7 cents an oz. Only problem is you use about 8 oz of powdered detergent vs. about 4 fl. oz of concentrated liquid detergent (depending on what brand) per load. Soooo, if the powdered version is 5 cents, but uses double, it's actually 40 cents per load vs. 28 cents per load (using liquid concentrate). Follow that?

More importantly, I really like Tandil. I did all of this week's laundry with it and I'm very happy with the results. I cannot however, give a thumbs up to the ALDI dryer sheets. UCK! You need to use many sheets to get the results of just one Bounce or Snuggle sheet. So ixney on those!

A final note: I notice throughout this comparison that Purex always came in at the lowest price per oz., both in liquid and powder detergents. However, I have been told that it is not as effective as other detergents in getting out stains and brightening clothes. I believe that there is a point at which we can become so cheap, we cheat ourselves. I don't want to be so cheap on laundry detergent that I wear out my clothes too soon with harsh chemicals and the need for repeat washes. So, at some point, we must realize that laundry detergent is also an investment in preserving the clothes we have bought and want to last. OK, that's about as philosophical as I am going to get on laundry detergent. I hope this post is helpful and maybe you'll try Tandil sometime soon. Thanks for the tip Molly!

PS- Remember all the soap smudges that were left by the homemade detergent on my dark clothes? I ironed them out! If you ever run across this problem, you can iron the clothes or steam them and the soap residue melts away. Yey, I have my black back ;-)