Unless it is HE I couldn't use it, because I have the front loading washer & dryer. That is a very good price and Tide or Gain are the brands I use.

So if it is HE I would definitely buy it..

I have a front loader and use non-HE detergent (Costco's Kirkland brand - liquid).

I would not buy it in a 5 gallon bucket though.

It would take me too long to go through it, as the front leader uses only a tablespoon or so a load.

A five-gallon bucket'd last me for well over 5 years - more like 15, I think!

Almost certainly outlive me - they'd have to sell the remainder at the estate yard sale (that's on a lightly travelled road ... and down quite a long lane).

Oh, well!

ole joyfuelled ... who scarcely ever needs his mouth washed out with soap

I make my own for less than $5. for a 5 gallon bucket.Works in all machines,lasts me about 6 months.Love it!

That size bucket is too large to store in my laundry room, and it would probably last us 2 years. I also prefer a powder detergent, not a liquid.

No thanks. I'll stick with my Tide in a box.

Thank you for the head's up! That sounds like a great deal. I cannot imagine how long that would last me... quite some time. I see it's 409 loads. That'd be 81.8 weeks for us. So about a year and half (I assume I'd probably wash an extra load or two every now and again). Pretty good!

And below is the math for it all. Looks really good when it's broken down like this!

Here is a link that might be useful: price per load

Mine lasted me almost a year.. It comes in the HE, too. I bought each of my daughter's one. With the grandkids they do a lot of laundry. They loved it!! They also have the fabric softener. Some people have split a bucket.

I make our laundry soap....but as the powder kind, not the liquid. Works great and is a lot easier to store.

We get our clothes really, really dirty. I am wondering how the home made laundry soap would work on that. I'd buy Tide in a bucket. I don't think it would last me but about six months. Just the two of us, but we go through a lot of clothes and Tide does get them clean.

There's a Facebook page called Five Gallon Ideas that gives you ideas what to do with your buckets once they're empty.

Jodi-

Here is a link that might be useful: Five Gallon Ideas FB page

It's counterfeit and was on ABC on June 22. Also sold under Gain name, but all very illegal

Tonight there was an expose on this and P&G doesn't NOT make buckets of Tide or Gain detergents. It's a fraud ring and many were arrested on Nightline .

Yes. Totally illegal. Proctor and Gamble has made put out a lot of statements over this. It's counterfeit and the fact that service organizations and schools are using it as fundraisers make it no less illegal.

Some of it is "tide" from Vietnam which is nothing like the real Tide here and some of it is stolen goods. Stolen Tide is used as currency in the drug trade.

So anyone buying or selling this stuff is supporting some pretty unsavory stuff and the black market.

The first time I purchased a 5-gallon bucket of Charlie's Soap (HE laundry detergent) was an on-line purchase Nov. 2007 (1,280 loads) with free shipping. I learned about Charlie's over at the Laundry Room forum and have used it since then. The first bucket lasted us 3-years (doing laundry for 2 adults). Just think of all the packaging and trips to the store I saved. Now it comes in a smaller 32# bucket (1,000 loads) and I can purchase it locally at a specialty shop for baby things.

An additional plus for saving money using Charlie's Soap - you don't use softener (liquid or sheets) with it, and our clothes are soft even when line-dried. If you use softeners, you will alter the way the detergent cleans due to the softener build-up. If you use softener and switch to Charlie's Soap, it will take a few weeks to eliminate all the built-up "crud" and soap scum left in your clothes (especially if you have hard water).