I often describe my laundry basket as the ever flowing porridge pot from the fairy tale.  Therefore, when my tubs of Simply washing tablets were delivered courtesy of Netmums, an opportunity to finally empty it presented itself. I should be the ideal candidate to review washing powder.  My eldest suffers from nose bleeds,  middle child is prone to falling in muddy puddles, the baby has just started on solids, I wash my own nappies and my clothes permanently have baby sick shoulder.

I have to say that washing powder is not something I am generally enthusiastic about. I’m not brand loyal , usually favouring  own brand products and I still use old fashioned powder as it usually goes further.   

First impressions

I liked the neat little plastic tubs and could easily see them being useful for storing the kids little bits once they were empty.  One  thing that did strike me however was that 15 washes per tub wasn’t an awful lot and since Simply has an eco friendly label there could be a lot of wasted packaging.  I wonder whether they could do a refill service to save on packaging?

The Washing

So now to put it to the test.  My first load was a coloured wash, I washed with 2 tablets on 30° as recommended on the instructions.  I expected a delicate fragrance but was surprised  when the washing came out with no fragrance at all.  However, I did find that despite  the lack of fragrance , the washing smelt really clean and fresh.  My next wash was a whites wash, again on a 30° with 2 tablets.  The whites came out much brighter than they would with my usual powder, however one of the shirts did not smell fresh on a low temperature wash, when I put it back in on a higher temperature it came out smelling clean.

I was concerned that the lack of fragrance would mean that the nappies  would smell. The nappy wash at 60° was the most impressive of all.  The nappies came out much softer than they would with my usual powder (fabric softener is not recommended when washing nappies as it reduces the absorbency) and they were clean and smelt really fresh.  By the 3rd wash the lack of fragrance was really growing on me, the freshness is much nicer than an artificial fragrance.  But most impressive of all were some heavily soiled baby clothes that I included in the wash.

Though there was a slight trace of the stain it was barely noticeable. The washing was tumble dried and had they been line dried I am certain that even this faint staining would have been removed by the sun.

I am looking forward to using the rest of my supply and who knows I may even be converted long term.  With Netmums current special offer of buy 6 packs get £7 off,  the tablets are cheaper than my current own brand powder and at the usual price of £2.89 for 30 tablets are still excellent value.

I am a member of the Netmums Blogging Network, a unique community of parent bloggers from around the UK who have been handpicked by the Netmums team to review products and brands on their behalf. I am paid an expenses fee to cover my time (and childcare if the fee is big enough!) but Netmums have no editorial control whatsoever about what I blog about. Being a member of the Netmums Blogging Network means that I get to try out products and brands and get my expenses covered but that I retain full editorial integrity