Saving Money Washballs Laundry Ball Verses Washing Powder Wash Green

Clothes get dirty and we need to wash them but the cost of washing powder can soon add up. One way of saving money is to use wash balls. Can washballs do the laundry any better or cheaper than using washing powder in your washing machine?

For a thousand years or more doing the laundry meant going down to the river and finding a good rock to soak, scrub and beat the dirt out of the various items of clothing but when we all started living in towns and cities that became rather inconvenient. The next period of laundry washing history involved a bowl of water and scrubbing board made with a ridged surface to give the dirt a hard time trying to stick to the clothes.

All this physical punishment took a toll on the clothes and wore them out but when chemical companies began developing washing powders that loosened the dirt without the wear and tear we all began using them and the process has changed very little since then.

In recent years we have been offered some other choices such as washing liquids which are liquid versions of the powders but now we also have wash balls which are claimed to be as effective but much cheaper to use and less damaging to the environment.

What is a washball? Well, it is not so simple to answer that question. Basically it is a plastic ball shaped container with some stuff in it. What that stuff is varies and how it works is debated and questioned by some but users seem to be satisfied with the results they get and washballs are much cheaper to use than washing powder as we will see.

Some washballs are claimed to last for up to 1000 washes before they need replacing. To put that into some sort of context. If you do a laundry wash 4 times each week 1000 washes would be 5 years. Imagine how much you would spend on washing powder over 5 years.

In reality it seems unlikely a washball will last that long. My own experience has been that they begin to lose their active contents after about a year but different brands use different materials and my experience may be very different to other brands I have not tried. The important point is that they do last a long time and can save a lot of money.

Do washballs work? Going by my own experience I have to say yes. When you read other users opinions they seem to agree with me but I guess it may depend on what you expect and whether you have analytical eyes. If you can spot a speck of a stain at a thousand yards you may not be entirely happy but my eyesight is not that good and I was very happy with my washball results.

When you get on to the subject of how do washballs work it does get a little bit confusing and may start to sound like some weird cult of laundry people. Different manufacturers claim different features and say their balls work in various different ways but then I expect washing powder manufacturers would make some rather confusing and puzzling claims about their product too.

I have no idea what makes washing powder work. No doubt there is a lot of science going on that I most likely would not understand and I assume the same may be true of washballs.

I don't know if it is the oxygenation of the water,change in the Ph balance, ionization or even magnetization that gets the dirt out but all I can say is that I have used washballs and found them effective and I will continue to use them.

The green wash ball claims that it is effective due to the way the ceramic pellets it contains change the PH balance of the water and this helps means you can wash without using any harsh chemicals as used in washing powders. It is claimed to last for up to 1,000 wash-loads. Even if it lasts half that many it would be great value for money compared to the cost of washing powder or liquids.

The super wash balls are claimed to last for up to 1000 wash loads and leave you with clothes that are fresh, clean and unscented. They are used in place of normal laundry detergent and use natural ceramic and elemental balls inside which are allergen free and reduce skin irritations experienced when using washing powders. Being eco-friendly it reduces damage caused by toxic chemical waste water. It is said to work by the ceramic balls raising the pH of the laundry water to form alkaline (non-acidic) water and forming a little bit of hydrogen peroxide.

These Oxy Powered Detergent Laundry Balls seem to be slightly different to some of the other wash balls on sale in that they claim to use compressed oxy detergent pellets in the washballs but they do say they don't contain any harsh chemicals. These dissolve over time so these balls only last for around 90 washes but that is a significant cost saving when compared to regular washing powder or laundry liquids costs.