I saw these at Target yesterday and decided to give them a whirl (and rinse).
The starter kit comes with a dense ball of detergent about the size of a softball, a stretchy fabric “ball liner”, and a blue soft foamy plastic cover. It was kinda hard to get the detergent ball out of the packaging, kinda hard to get the cloth liner onto the ball, and kinda hard to get the blue foam cover closed around the lined ball. But when all was said and done, it only took me about 2 minutes.
If it works as advertised, I think it will be worth wrestling with the damn things only once every 25 loads and never having to pour and measure detergent again.
Of course remembering to count how many loads we’ve washed is a whole other issue. I’ve taped a piece of paper and pen to the dryer door, but I have a feeling that this is where Mrs. WeHaveCookies and I are going to…heh…drop the ball.
I haven’t tried that, but I did do an experiment on my own a couple of months ago. It didn’t go well. See, I have a downy ball, and I wondered, what would happen if you put powered Oxyclean in it? Nothing good!
Apparently if oxyclean is too concentrated, it can bleach clothing. Like the pair of jeans I’ve decided to try dying since the big white splotches it now has are so 80s.
This detergent ball may work, but do it yourself sure doesn’t. Don’t try it at home, kids.
Ha! My 10 year old and I can’t help but laugh everytime we see these in the store because of an early Bill Mays commercial in which he proclaimed “It takes up no space!”
How the hell can something that exists, take up no space?
We been using them for about 3 months and have been highly satisfied. They last a lot longer than the 30 loads (or whatever it is…) advertised on the package. Our clothes are sufficiently clean – I can’t tell any difference.
It takes up no shelf space like a big bottle of detergent, because you leave it in the washer.
We tried it a few months ago. Very disappointed. We went through four balls in a matter of about three weeks. The cleaning and softening worked just fine, in fact very well, but the longevity did not.
They had recommended that washing in only cold water would extend the life of the ball. Sorry, not doing my towels and underwear that way. I like water hot enough to actually, you know, kill germs and such.
We already wash in cold most of the time. So far we’re only three loads into our experimental run, and all is going well. There has been no noticable ball shrinkage so far…
If you have room for a softball sized object in whatever you carry your laundry back and forth in, I’d say it would be fine for the folks who use laundromats and such. I’ve handled the dispenser between each load so far, and it is not drippy or oozie or gross in any way.
I’m not all that interested, at present. Mostly I was just noting that in-washing machine storage is not suitable for everyone. A softball sized object is smaller than the box of degergent I use at present, and larger than the scoop I usually actually carry. (I live across the hall from the laundry room. No need to carry more than two loads worth of detergent at one time).
I think this is one of those “create a problem to sell the solution” products.
Seriously? :dubious: Pouring detergent into its own cap and into the machine is the hard part of laundry? Not in my world. Give me a product that will carry a bulky basket down a flight of icy stairs in -32 weather, down again to switch to the dryer, then bring it all back up again, fold it and put it away and I’ll be all over that!
Then again, everyone’s got their Thing. If pouring detergent is your Thing that stops you from doing your laundry, then it sounds like a great product. (Though I’m also curious about how it doesn’t need rinsing.) I just bought a bunch of bathroom cleaner wipes, wood wipes and glass wipes - not because spray bottles and rags are that hard to use, but because getting all the supplies out and keeping them organized was my Thing - part of my excuse not to clean.
None that I detected, the clothes seemed quite clean. The stuff pretty much rinses away with the wash water, and the rinse cycle amounts to a second washing.
I want to stress that we were very happy with the cleaning and fabric-softening performance. You threw the clothes straight into the drier with nothing, and they still came out feeling like you tossed in a Bounce sheet. It’s just that our washing preferences’ effect on the lifespan of the ball made it uneconomical for us to continue using it. YMMV.