More about Tide

Okay gals. I wanted to do a supplemental post to my review of Tide laundry detergent. Many of you may be wondering if you can use Tide if you have a septic system. I care about that!! I do not have a septic system, since we live in the city, but I did some research and came up with some things that I think would be nice for all of you people on septic systems to know.

First of all, let me say that I use Tide 2X Ultra liquid in the original scent. I am able to use less than it recommends on the back of the bottle. I do not use powder because I found that using powder caused strange stains on my clothes and there would be funny (not the ha-ha kind of funny, but the gee, that's interesting kind of funny) powder residue on the clothes and in the washer. It also tended not to rinse out as thoroughly, thereby causing skin irritation. I allow the washer to fill a little bit with hot water, and when it's sudsy (yes, that is a word! Spell check said it was!!) I add my detergent.

I thoroughly read the bottle that is sitting right beside me on the couch just for the purpose of this post, and I could NOT find, anywhere on the bottle, (after I got over being so confused by all the Spanish on there!!) a warning not to use it in your washer if you have a septic system. It is biodegradable and contains no phosphates. My parents also use Tide and live out in the country and have a septic system. My mom has been using Tide for ever.

I researched whether or not Tide was harmful to septic systems this morning before writing this post, and I came up with nothing that said that it could not be used if you have a septic system. I don't know if the powder is safe, but it appears, for all intents and purposes, that Tide is okay for your septic system.

If you are using powder detergent because you think it's cheaper, I encourage you strongly to do your own research. I'm not a big fan of powder, for the reasons listed above. We recently had to take our washer apart because it wasn't working, and when we did, we found all kinds of rotten powder residue, black and rancid, from when we used powder (because we were told it was cheaper) a long time ago. It was totally gross! I read an article this morning about a lady who actually runs her sheets and towels through the washer twice because they weren't rinsing well and that was causing skin irritations and rashes.

So, there it is in a nutshell. I don't know why someone would say that Tide wasn't safe for a septic system. I don't have any explanations for that. But I think that if Tide was not safe for septic systems, then that would mean that millions of people could not use it, making it one of the non selling products out there on the market, and I do believe that Tide is a top seller, so that really didn't make sense to me.

Do your research before you buy things!