REVIEW: Country Save laundry detergent

For the first few months of cloth-diapering, I used Tide Original to wash my diapers. There is no clear stance on Tide from cloth diaper experts. Some swear by it, others claim it will ruin your stash. I figured I would start out with Tide and see if I had any problems. At first, I didn't.

Back home in Central Florida, we had soft water. I never had an issue with my wash routine. Once we moved to Texas and started using the luxurious (*eyeroll*) city water, my laundry lost its luster. (The English teacher in me refuses to edit the alliteration.) Every load seemed to be slightly dingy and my diapers never smelled completely clean. I considered changing detergents, but never really got around to it until I had a conversation with the lovely ladies (kids, today is brought to you by the letter 'L') at my cloth diaper store, Mami's and Papi's--yes, I am in there a LOT, at least once a week--and had a sample of Country Save thrown at me. :D

I figured it couldn't hurt, and I had heard great things about Country Save from other mamas. I threw it in with my next load, and I was relieved to find that they didn't look or feel as grimy as they did when they were washed with Tide. (I'm telling you, I said a secret prayer every time I opened the lid on my washer that it didn't smell like ammonia and/or poop.)

Why is Country Save considered safe for cloth diapers? It doesn't contain any fragrance, dyes, phosphates, or optical brighteners that could affect the integrity of the fabric. It is also:

• Completely biodegradable
• Gentle for sensitive skin but tough enough for battlefield conditions!
• Ultra-concentrated - actually get 40 scoops of detergent out of a 40 wash box!
• Septic Tank Safe
• Gluten free; no coconut-derived ingredients
• EPA - Design for the Environment Certified

My hesitation to buy any "specialty" detergents has always been cost, but Country Save is actually (wait for it) almost HALF the price of Tide! (According to their price comparison chart, Country Save costs about $0.12/HE load whereas Tide HE costs about $0.23/load!) That makes my cheap behind VERY happy. As soon as I figured this out, I went back to M&P's (as we local folk affectionately call it) and bought a 10lb box.

I've been using it with my cloth diaper laundry ever since with absolutely no complaints and I can rest easy knowing that I'm not prematurely wearing out my diapers with the additives found in most commercial detergents. Also! I can use it with my regular laundry and not worry about "wasting" the expensive stuff on non-diaper loads. In fact, as soon as I run out of this batch of Tide, that's exactly what I'm going to do.

If you haven't tried it yet, you can order a sample here. As a skeptic, I can appreciate your reluctance. ;) HOWEVER, if you trust me, just order the big box.

***I've said it already and I'll say it again, I will only review products I have used and I will only provide positive reviews for products I can confidently stand by. My reputation may not mean much to y'all, but it's pretty much all I've got. ***