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In partnership with Tide.

I love getting my kids involved in dinner prep but I hardly ever do it because let me tell you, with four kids in the kitchen, things get MESSY. I usually end up supervising the cooking and their clothes, knowing I’m the one who will be trying to get tough food stains out of their shirts next day.  

I’ve always used an old-school laundry hack that my grandma told me about – baking soda to make my bargain detergent more effective to remove tough stains (washing clothes for a family of 6 adds up!). But I never saw the results that my grandmother promised. I knew there had to be a better and less time-consuming way.

So I consulted the laundry experts at Tide and was so excited when they invited me out to their headquarters in Cincinnati, Ohio to do a live test. Tide against my grandmother’s laundry hacks. They promised that by the end of my time there, I would be able to let go of stains (and the worry of stains) and embrace the fun of sometimes getting messy! First, they asked me to hold a taco night with my family and I encouraged the kids to get their aprons super messy! You’ll see how these tested later on…I couldn’t believe the results.  

A boy wearing a food stained white apron.

A little girl wearing a white apron sitting at a table putting cheese on a taco.
A young boy wearing a white apron sitting at a table putting meat into a taco shell.

During my visit at the Tide Lab, we combined bargain detergent with laundry hacks (some even older than Tide!) and none of them beat Tide on getting the stains out of the clothes, removing lingering odor, or brightening whites.   We tested hacks like washing clothes with baking soda with bargain detergent and we learned that hacks are ineffective approaches to cleaning clothes that don’t account for modern fabrics (like polyester or synthetic cotton) and new, bigger HE washing machines. In fact, in January Tide re-engineered its entire formula to tackle these modern laundry challenges.

A group of mom bloggers brought their aprons from all over the country and we tested out washing with baking soda plus bargain detergent hack in the Tide Lab, creating a paste to try to remove our taco night-stained aprons. One of my aprons was a baking soda laundry tester… it was washed with baking soda plus bargain detergent, the other apron washed with Tide’s newest product, Tide Ultra Oxi. It was no question that Tide worked better than the hacks. The aprons washed with our “hacks” still had stains on them, while the ones washed with Tide were clean.

A group of people posing for the camera holding white aprons.

After the weekend I spent at the Tide Lab, I learned that not only does Tide beat my grandmother’s trusted baking soda plus laundry detergent hack, but the common laundry hacks of vinegar for odor and lemon juice for whitening as well. And we tested ALL of them.  Adding baking soda to the washing machine with bargain detergent didn’t work, among others.

The worst for me was putting a bag of lemons to the test against Tide. We squeezed an ENTIRE bag of lemons…so tedious. And Tide whitens as well or better than the juice of a full bag of lemons. Tide is designed for use on both colors and white clothing, but lemon juice isn’t; in fact, lemon juice has bleaching power and may fade colors if not used correctly.   

Another well-known hack? Using vinegar plus bargain detergent to eliminate that lingering odor on your clothes. Not only did we learn that it’s ineffective but who wants their house to smell like vinegar while you pre-soak? Not me. In fact, I also learned that vinegar might hurt more than it helps; since it is an acid it can lower the optimal pH of your detergent making it less effective.

None of the hacks worked well. Baking soda for laundry didn’t cut it and neither did lemon or vinegar.  So adding baking soda plus bargain detergent to laundry was out… and Tide was in.

A close up of someone juicing lemons.

After coming home from Tide’s Headquarters, I immediately stocked up on Tide and started using Tide Ultra Oxi.   

A close up of a laundry room cabinet with a variety of Tide products on the shelf.

I love it because it is Tide’s first detergent combination that gives us the benefit of tough stain fighting with built-in pre-treaters.   It works due to a breakthrough enzyme in the liquid that specifically targets tough stains like spaghetti sauce, fruit juice or ketchup. Now there’s an easy-to-use solution for the messiest messes.  (It’s like they made it just for my family!) You can get in a liquid laundry pac (POD) or in liquid formula. Tide Ultra Oxi is the best solution for modern-day laundry challenges.  

A close up of Tide Pods Detergent .

Did you know that one dose of Tide Ultra Oxi removes stains better than 4 doses of bargain detergent and an ENTIRE box of baking soda in the washing machine?   Yes… you read that right: Even adding a whole box of baking soda with bargain detergent to remove stains in clothes didn’t do the job.   I’ve completely switched over and have seen the results.

There’s also the newly re-engineered Tide Laundry Detergent. It is an upgraded formula that delivers greater cleaning power, developed with today’s modern synthetic fabrics and HE washing machines in mind.

A person folding a white kitchen towel.

It’s also available in the new Fresh Coral Blast fragrance – I’m using it in my home now, too! It has a technology that activates its pleasant scent the more you move!  It smells so good – I notice it every time that our kids walk by. 🙂

A container of Tide Pods detergent beside colorful children\'s clothes neatly folded.

Thanks to Tide, I’ve given up on hacks like baking soda, lemon juice & vinegar plus bargain detergent.  I’ve also stopped worrying about messes from family taco night, now that I know about the power of Tide.

Children around a kitchen island putting taco ingredients into their shells.

I’m officially leaving my baking soda to use just for cooking – I’m telling everyone Tide Beats Hacks.  The proof is in the pudding apron.

Two white aprons side by side, one with no stains and the other with food stains still on it.

Spread the word, try for yourself, and let me know about which stains Tide helped beat!

TideBeatsHacks

Hi there!

I’m Becky, a former elementary school teacher turned certified child development therapist and blogger. I work at home with my husband and together we are raising (and partially homeschooling) our four children in the Carolinas. I love diet coke, ice cream, and spending time with my family.

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1 Comment

  1. I know that Tide is the Best Laundry Soup out there my grandmother and I miss her ever so much when she passed away 12 years ago has made me lose a part of myself. My Grandparents raised me and she was my Best friend in the whole world other than God to which I know she sits at his right hand. But she used Tide and nothing else. But let’s be honest but most of us can’t afford or even be able to even remotely afford the cost. I buy Tide in my local Dollar Store but it’s only a very small bottle like a sample bottle and I hide it to use on those clothes thatneed the most help ad trust me my husbands work uniforms definitely fit there he is 65 years old and is the Head Termite Specialist and is under homes, in crawl spaces and digs trenches. So his uniforms are a nightmare. But even though he is a man he does notice when I use Tide not only how fresh his uniforms smell but the appearance as well and so do the men he works with. But because of my medical expenses and just everyday bills I cannot fit it in the budget. I have cancer and it is finally responding to my treatment and MS, Diabetes since age of 15 and the side effects that come with it and other things. Let’s just say I got dealt the crappy end of the family Gene pool but with my Faith in God has Blessed me with the strength to deal with all of this. Our kids are grown with their own families but I also have a full Litter of wonderful Grandchildren. We also took on the task of adopting a drug dependent baby at birth and if I had to do it all over I MOST CERTAINLY WOULD. Even my 12 year old is always wanting to take her clothes to her her older sisters house that only uses Tide when she wants to spend the weekend with her. She loves how nice and clean it makes her clothes and the smell she always takes her allowance she gets to buy spray for her room. She tells me all the time she wants her perfume to smell like Tide. But she understands it’s just not in our family budget. We don’t even have cable just Internet for her school work. But still we have been Blessed in so many other ways. But if I could afford it TIDE WOULD BE THE ONE AND ONLY LAUNDRY PRODUCT TO USE IN MY HOUSEHOLD. It definitely stands up to quality to AWESOME QUALITY you advertise. So I know if I could afford to that is what this household would use and yes even though I’m forced to use the Budget laundry soap I still will say that TIDE IS THE BEST THING ON THE MARKET. But without saying TIDE IS BEST OUT THERE. And Thank you to God to have given them developer the skill and knowledge to make such a WONDERFUL PRODUCT. Keep up your Good and Faithfullness to making it. GO TIDE!!!