Endorsement...

...for detergent!



I HEART CHARLIE'S SOAP!

Seriously, this is by far my favorite detergent to use on cloth diapers. I paid $18.99 for the 128-load bottle of liquid laundry soap at EarthFare. So, if I use 1 oz of detergent per wash load every other day (15 loads per month), this $19 bottle will last me about 8 and 1/2 months! $2.24 a month! Or, $0.15 per load! Holy cow!

(While I'm at it, let me throw in here that when we started using cloth full time, our utilities bills went up a combined total of about $10 per month, or $0.67 per load. So with the utilities and detergent that's a grand total of $0.82 per load, or $12.30 per month to fully cloth diaper two 100% diapered children. So, after initial investments to purchase the diapers, we spend less than $13 a month to keep them in cloth. So when it comes to money, yes, you do spend a little more on maintenance for cloth, but I don't know anyone with even 1 child in disposable diapers who's spending less than $13 a month on them!)

The diapers smell fresher, look brighter, and require less rinsing because Charlie's Soap is extremely low-sudsing. Woo-hoo! Charlie's Soap makes a wide variety of cleaning products, so maybe I'll check those out too. They also make a powder laundry detergent, but I prefer liquid in general anyway. Also, as I've said before, some CDing mamas have speculated that powder crystals that may not fully dissolve in the wash water can become lodged in microfiber inserts, causing skin irritation and yucky smells, so I tend to think that liquid is a better choice for diaper laundering.