Paw, sweety Mama has Nellies, but I thank you. I don't have the best results with Nellies unless I add STPP, but that's not how I like to judge detergent. .I do use it for my dogs blankies and toys with the phosphates and an extra rinse because it has no perfumes or OB's. It might do well on your lightly soiled work pants and no OB's. Let me know what you think of it.

Ok, won't try it then.

What about laundry nuts?

I'm trying to find something special to brighten your day next week. I do have a back up plan tho!

Paw, lol..I've never tried soap nuts...but I hope you know that as one of my online kids just your friendly posts lighten my day!!

Soap nuts and Nellie's.....HONESTLY just wash your clothes in water. You will have about the same results! LOL Actually just water will make your clothes look and feel better than Nellie's :-o

I wish the Nellie's offered actual cleaning performance. The packaging has got to be the most appealing stuff (to me atleast) ever :P

Mich Nellies Tin is why I bought the stuff, than I found the matching tin with oxygen bleach and had to buy it.

Paw did you see the Nellies in the Tins? They are so cute.

I have Charlies Soap, Country Save and Planet which all have the same ingredients as Nellies and work about the same. I'd be happy to send out samples so you too can wonder how people with children use these :). I use Charlies on my son's sports pads and my bulldog's bedding, things that get stinky but not dirty. Works fine for that but will not remove stains that aren't water soluble no matter how badly you wish it would. Are you looking for a detergent without enzymes?

Soapnuts are more interesting. http://www.bhg.com/gardening/plant-dictionary/perennial/soapwort/ Probably have some of this growing in your yard or a friend's. Same concept as soapnuts and available for free on dark nights :).

I have a Boston that allows me to live with her, so I definitely had to get it for the packaging :)

Performance wise, it's ok.. I feel like Charlie's is a little better..but the powder and ingredients are VERY similar. I use a little STPP for both with my moderately hard water

Charlies, Nellies and soap nuts would definetly require soft water..arnt they loaded with washing soda?

Yes I saw the tin containers & thought they were cute!! I didn't want to spend $37.80 on them unless it was "mama approved".

Sometimes packaging is everything :-)

Paw I found mine at TJ Maxx..if I remember correctly they were around 7$ each. Frankly Scott unless someone's interested in the tin I would never recommend this detergent, IMO Sun detergent works circles around Nellies. Lol

CRASH!! (Pawprint just fell off the chair)

I had mine on a watchlist on Amazon. I think I pulled the trigger when it went to $22 for 2.

A Tide/Persil user is going to be disappointed if they think a Tbsp of this, and no other changes, will always give them the same results as a quarter cup of their old.

The main following for these detergents is the cloth diapering community because it's a 'minimalist' detergent. No scents, no dyes, no optical brighteners, no enzymes, no bleach, and clean rinsing

I tend to think of Nellie's/Charlies as an 'ingredient' for my 'detergent stew'. For light, office work,daily soil, it's fine as is..but If I'm doing whites and want a bleaching agent, I can add it. If I have a couple bad stains, I'll pretreat them. My water is a little hard, so I add STPP to soften it

You just have to realize what it is, and what it's not.

Sometimes I like to use the scalpel in the laundry room and play with Charlie..and sometimes I want to bring out the Persil bazooka and yell die stains die.

Sspeer- that was the best post ever.

Paw- was it you that had the large jugs of Sun detergent? If so, have you noticed a big difference now that you have tried some other detergents? Not much of a difference? No difference? Just curious.

I have 7 large jugs of Sun in all flavors.

I can't tell a cleaning difference. I'm not really dirty & pretreat all my stains. I daily wash the 2 blankets my dogs urinate on with bleach.

I only wear clothes once before washing. Same with bath towels & dish towels. Sheets weekly.

What I notice the most is the perfume & smells of different detergents. Sun is bland to me. Ariel is the most potent.

So I use the bland detergents on the dogs blankets with a little bleach, since they're washed daily.

I save all the fragrant detergent for my clothes & bedding!! It's nice change.

That's interesting. I have used sun in the past and I felt similar. Might pick up another jug just for the super light stuff.

I really think it's my front loader doing all the work no matter what soap I use.

But like Mama once said, "why pull out the big guns if they're not needed".

So I pick & choose which detergent is best for which battle. I feel like a general Sargent!

Trust me Paw..your washer is great..but without detergent, your clothes will not get cleaned..remember Time, Temp, chemicals, ect...it all works together....but your right not everything needs the big guns...I have decided to buy a jug of the yellow bottled Sun..I know its mostly water but it does have enough cleaning power for light soils or just freshening up..I like the scent and its only about a buck for a small bottle...can you picture Mama with Sun..lol.

I saw a giant box of lemon Sun at Big Lots today. It listed enzyme in ingredients. I was tempted but have no room. They also had a shelf full of Tide HE original powder and Tide with bleach powder. I guess P&G is still clearing out old stock?

Powder sun with enzymes. .I never knew there was such a thing..and lemon scented..you find the best stuff Sandy..lol.

I cannot imagine you using Sun. You'll have to take pictures for evidence.

I think most of us here have used everything with laundry detergent on the label and a few things that didn't even have that :).