Those of you who have read Make it Do for any length of time know how much I love baking soda. A quick look through my cleaning posts and you’ll know I’m a really big fan. What’s not to love about a product that is an ingredient in my favorite chocolate chip cookies AND cleans my dirty pans to a shine?
So, I had to laugh when I received an email asking whether I would be interested in being part of the Arm and Hammer Switch and Save Challenge Campaign. Yes! As far as I am concerned, Arm and Hammer Baking Soda is right up there with sliced bread.
The Switch and Save Challenge has more to get excited about than just baking soda. Over the coming months, I’ll be sharing links to great coupons, real-life cleaning tips, product reviews, and giveaways. I am so excited to be part of this campaign!
Today I am reviewing the first product sent to me by the good folks at Arm and Hammer.
Arm & Hammer Plus OxiClean Power Gel Laundry Detergent
I’ll admit it, I’m kind of an odd duck since I actually like doing laundry. Taking good care of my family’s clothes is a great way to save money. I am always on the lookout for cost effective laundry tips and products that really work.
If your family is anything like mine, serious stains are not hard to come by. I couldn’t wait to put the A&H Power Gel through the paces.
Here are the challenges my family came up with:
Ah sweetie, that’s a sleeve not a napkin!
MOM! Did you see that catch? Oh ya! and I see you caught some grass stains too.
Here’s a close up, since the long shot didn’t do the stains justice.
A morning in the garden: hard on weeds… and on laundry.
As you can see, the tests were a Starlight Mint Ice Cream Cone (yes, with chocolate smears) on a t-shirt sleeve, and grass stains and ground in dirt on pants.
To give the detergent a true test, I ran our dirty laundry through a load without pretreating. This is not something I ever would dare under normal circumstances… but this was a test and I wanted to see what Arm & Hammer’s Power Gel Detergent could do.
The results were awesome. All of the grass stains and dirt came out of the baseball pants, all of the Starlight Mint, even the smeared chocolate, came of the t-shirt, all of the dirt washed out of the pants. The only stain the detergent didn’t get out without pretreating was the grass stains on the jeans… it lessened them but didn’t eliminate them. My son, who watched my experiment with interest, especially since it involved his baseball pants, was amazed when they came out of the washer so clean. He said, “Whoah, mom they didn’t lie! It does work!”
That’s a very high mark from me… especially given that I would never normally wash any of those stains without pretreating! It’s peace of mind to know you have a detergent that will catch most stains even when you don’t. Good news since my kids are famous for tossing stained clothes to the bottom of the laundry basket with not so much as a word.
That brings me to the next question, price. How does Arm & Hammer Plus OxiClean Power Gel compare with the other major brands? I did a quick cost comparison at my local store and totaled the price per load. The Arm & Hammer was less expensive per load than other major brands… and that’s even before using a coupon. Throw a coupon into the mix and you’ve got seriously good value. To download Arm & Hammer coupons, click here or on the link below.
The verdict is Arm & Hammer Plus OxiClean Power Gel Laundry Detergent is all it’s cracked up to be. But I didn’t expect any less from the makers of my favorite baking soda.
I love baking soda, use it for all sorts of great things. Thank you for the coupons.
Quick question: can you fix the location of your site’s copyright footer? It is fixed at a location that keeps covering up your new posts each day. It just makes it hard to read at times. Thank you. I love your site and appreciate all the fantastic tips you share with us all.
The real test to win my approval would be how it handles pesky eruptions from both ends of the baby. Baby laundry is about the only thing I don’t like washing because it’s nigh on impossible to catch every last spot of spit-up before it gets baked into a yellow spot. If the detergent passed the test of eliminating baby spots without pre-treating and was gentle on ultra sensitive skin, I’m sure I’d never stray.
Alas, alas I have no baby to test the stains on! I agree! Babies are the best stain makers around… though my son could give a baby a run for it’s money.
I have more questions. Did you try it on grease stains such as olive oil and butter smeared on the front of a shirt, or motor oil or on blood and spaghetti sauce splatter? I realize you can’t test everything but these are regular issues we encounter (even more so than chocolate and grass stains!). I can’t get through a load of laundry without finding blood and motor oil on my husband’s work clothes (he’s a landscaper and doesn’t believe in gloves or shop towels), and grease on the kids clothes (they don’t believe in napkins). Spaghetti sauce knows where I live (and I DO believe in aprons. I do, I do, I do!). If the Arm and Hammer could get all of those out, I would consider it. Right now, I make my own and pre-treat with vinegar and baking soda on a regular basis…
Jeni, I will do more “testing” and let you know how things go. It is very unofficial mind you… but VERY real life. We have the spaghetti with marinara and oil stains often, the blood occasionally, and the motor oil never. But as I encounter those stains I will run them without pretreating and let you know the results. It’s kind of fun to run a product through it’s paces.
I made the “switch” months ago and LOVE this detergent. With three children, all of whom play sports, it does the job and saves $. Can’t beat that :)
I *hate* laundry, but *LOVE* my Arm & Hammer! So glad to hear their detergent works so well. I’ve been a pre-treating/cold water Tide girl for so long that I’m pretty excited to get something new that has worked with the crazy stains you tried it on!
So cool you go to be the guinea pig!
I would love to try this but have an HE washer. Do they have something for these washers also?
Hi Donna, Yes, Arm and Hammer does makes an HE version that is also readily available. Good luck! Calli