Tide for Cold Water Versus Other Detergents

Always looking for a way to cut my monthly expenses, electricity being the largest of all the monthly bill evils, I conducted an experiment with other detergents when I ran out of the one I was using, which was formulated for cold water use. I decided to see if there was something special about Tide for cold water, or if it was just a clever marketing strategy. These experiments took a couple of months to conduct, but I got valuable information for saving money in the end.

Regular Tide surprisingly did just as well as the Tide for cold water, and I saw no difference one way or the other. Even when I washed whites, they came out the same as if I had used hot water. The bleach was not affected by water temperature. Kind of throws a wrench in my mother's insisting whites should always be washed in hot water.

Gain Apple Mango Tango also did just as well as the Tide for cold water. As a matter of fact, after the first load, I realized I should use less than the recommended measurement on the cap, and using less did not affect the outcome. My clothes were just as clean, and I even got a few more loads out of the bottle than the number of loads printed on the label indicated. Whites also came out just as clean.

Purex, the leader in cheap detergents, ranks as high as Tide and Gain in this experiment. There was no noticeable difference in cleanliness, and the scent was pleasant as well. As with the others, whites were not any less white than if I had splurged on a more expensive detergent. Since it is a relatively cheap detergent, I did use the recommended measurement, but in the end I saved money on both the detergent, and electricity my hot water heater didn't have to use.

All detergent is also quite inexpensive, and held up nicely against the others. The only real problem I had with All was the scent. I didn't care for the smell, but the clothing was clean, and so I marked this one down as a successful result for both colored and white clothes.

Era is probably my favorite in the less expensive detergent group, simply because it also removes stains quite well. Cold water didn't seem to make a difference in stain removal or whitening. I normally use a stain remover spray, but Era was being tested in stain removal as well as ability to clean clothes in cold water, as well as it would in warm or hot water. Era turned out to be well worth the purchase.

Each of these detergents did just as well as Tide for cold water use. I could see no real difference, except for price. I buy a lot of detergent, since there are seven people in my household, five of which are children. The less expensive detergents actually saved me money both at the cash register and on electricity because my hot water heater didn't have to heat water.

All of the detergents I used were liquid. Depending on how cold your water is, some powdered detergents don't completely dissolve, and can clump in the bottom of your washer. Since I have well water, and it is extremely cold, even in the summer, I always use liquid for that reason.