HOUSTON – Whether you have a go-to detergent or you buy whatever is on sale, you should know not all laundry detergents are created equal. Higher-priced detergents don’t always get your clothes as clean as less expensive products.
Consumer Reports tested 52 different detergents to see how well they could remove common stains like body oil, dirt, salad dressing and coffee. They said some detergents did so poorly, they would have achieved the same results using plain water.
The best detergents
The top two best-performing laundry detergents in Consumer Reports’ test were Tide Plus Ultra Stain Release (It costs about 28 cents a load.) and Persil Proclean Stain Fighter (21 cents a load). Both scored an 84 out of a possible 100 for their ability to wash out common stains in cool, soft water.
Of the top five highest-rated detergents, three are Tide products. But you have to know which Tide products Consumer Reports says clean best because Tide’s Simply Clean and Fresh is ranked as one of the five worst detergents.
The worst performing detergents
The very lowest ranked detergent in the test was Sun Triple Clean (8 cents a load). Era 3x Oxybooster is almost three times as much at 23 cents a load, but barely cleans better. And third from the bottom is Original Gain. At 20 cents a load, this detergent only scored 36 out of 100 points.
The best buy
Consumer reports say the best buy of all 52 detergents is Costco’s Kirkland Signature Ultra Clean Liquid laundry detergent.
At only 11 cents per load, it scored a 76.
Don’t have a Costco card? Check out these recipes for proven DIY laundry detergents that can really save you big bucks.