Eco Washing Powders - Less Suds?

I rather like my small little laundry room.  It’s got a lovely tile floor, some shelves, and Talented Hubby recently installed two rows of hooks opposite the washing machine.  Let me tell you, I have suddenly discovered about a bazillion things I never knew I needed to hang.  Good stuff.  And yet, one thing pains me more than anything else about my laundry room.

I have to step over a big, fat nappy (diaper) bucket smack in the middle of the room.  It’s half filled with water and sits atop a towel directly over the drainhole.  In various forms, it has been there for three years now.  It does the job (and what is the job? I hear you ask) but the Awkward Factor outweighs the ingenious engineering feat that is a bucket on top of a hole.

From the very first load in this new house, we’ve always had a big problem with suds rising up out of the drain.  Somebody once mentioned to me that there was a product not unlike a ping-pong ball in a wire ‘cup’ that you hang inside the drain - the idea being, the ball would bounce up and down as the bubbles rose, and squish them so they never made it out of the drain - but we’ve asked two or three hardware stores now and nobody has anything like it in stock.  We’ve thought about calling in a plumber but it seems like a rather trivial matter to be wasting a call-out fee on.  I can just see it now - “Um yeah, hi.  We’ve got a wee little (whispers) - bubble problem.  Please send someone immediately!”  Not to mention those plumber folk are a bit too snap-happy with the sledgehammer and we’d probably end up with a floor that needed a full re-tile anyway.

Um…sure.  The drainhole cover is cemented in place.  Short of ripping up tile to get inside the drain (even though that prospect is looking increasingly promising with each annoying load), we’re out of luck with that one.  We’ve tried less powder and homemade washing detergents but decreasing the powder only left some stains and TH prefers shop-bought powder.  For the last year or so I have been resigned to forever stepping over a big bucket to get to the washer.

This morning, however, I was doing the grocery shopping and thought I’d check to see if there was a brand labelled as ‘low suds’.  For the record, we currently use this powder:

It goes on really, really good sale every few weeks and I still have a few boxes left, but when I discovered the Planet Ark ‘Aware’ brand (pic at top) I whipped out my trusty mobile phone and did a few calculations in the store.

BioZet with Softener, 1.5kg (3.3 lb) box is $8.29 (regular price - granted, the sales get it down to more like $5 or $6 and I would never pay full price, but we’re comparing apples to apples here).  Their box says 30 washes, or approx 50g (1¾ oz) powder per wash.  Per wash cost = 27.6 cents.

Planet Ark Aware Eco Choice, 1.5kg (3.3lb) box is $7.39 (regular price).  Their box does not say how many washes but reading the fine print on the label they suggest 3 tablespoons per average sized load equaling 60ml or 45g.  Close enough to call it on par with the BioZet, so I’m saying 30 washes as well (going by their figures, I should get more like 33 washes so the end result will be slightly better than this figure)  Per wash cost = 24.6 cents.

So far, the Aware Eco Choice is coming out ahead.  However - and this is the real reason I picked up the box in the first place - will an ‘eco’ washing powder produce less suds?  Does it get the clothes just as clean as the other stuff? I’d heard that the eco-friendly stuff isn’t as ‘bubbly’ so I’m holding out hope that this may work.  As I said, I still have heaps of the BioZet to use up but I’m really hoping if this does work out that the Aware goes on good sale regularly, as it would make the ’suds free laundry life’ just a little less sweet if I knew I was paying $2-3 per box more than I’m used to getting the other stuff on sale, sigh.

Does anyone use an eco powder (and especially you Aussies, if you use the Aware brand) and did you notice a difference in suds? Clothes still sparkly?  Thoughts?  I’ll take a picture of my laundry floor at the height of the next load I do.

Cheers,
Lizzie