In my eternal quest to try and save money, and allow me to spend more on the finer things in life (nice holidays etc), I've reading up a lot on different ways to shop and save. My latest discovery is Soda Crystals and for this I need to thank Kim and Aggie and my other half being late home, causing me to watch their programme on BBCAmerica (Their show is on 4 times a day in America, can you believe it?).
My shopping bill seems to get bigger and bigger and I often find new products I want to try out, or 'need' as they claim to 'better than the rest'. My biggest expense always seem to come from cleaning products, be it limescale removers, washing powder, fabric softener, bleaches and creams, window cleaners, sink and drain cleaners...you get the idea. Then whilst watching the domestic goddesses (Kim and Aggie) they started using this strange looking, salt like stuff, called Soda Crystals (sometimes known as 'washing soda'). I had heard of them before but didn't really know what they did.
It turns out they have been around for
over 200 years as a recognised cleaning product. Not only are they a traditional cleaning product, but they are highly versatile, cheap and most importantly, environmentally friendly. They are biodegradable and don't contain any phosphates, enzymes or bleach. Two of the key things they do is clean (due to their mild abrasive quality) and soften water. They are produced and sold by the company 'Dri-Pak' that also manufacture other 'natural' cleaning products, such as borax, soap flakes, white vinegar and Bicarbonate of Soda.
In greater description, they are white granules, that looks rather like washing powder or ground salt. If you want to buy a 1kg bag of Soda Crystals, Tesco sell it for a mere 50p (...update, Feb'09...I saw it in Tesco for 62p, but price goes up and down...still that's peanuts, right?). Thanks to the bigger supermarkets they are available pretty much everywhere.
So how does it help me? Well, I don't really know where to start. The helpfulness of these clever granules seems to be endless. Firstly the laundry...I don't know about you, but I think the prices of detergents is pretty ridiculous. You can pay up to £4 for a box of 40 tablets, that only last just over a month or so. Then there's the fabric softener, if it isn't already included, which can be at least another £3 or so. So, the washing can cost in the region of £7 a month. But I started substituting some of the powder with Soda Crystals and it makes my laundry tablets last twice as long. Ok, ok, ok, I could do better, for the purists you can use ¼ soda crystals, ¼ borax and ½ parts soap flakes and use a splash of White Vinegar for softener (although I'm not entirely convinced of the White Vinegar working as well as I would like) and you have created a laundry product that will only cost around £2 for the lot and probably last a lot longer. Bargain!
But it doesn't stop there, you can mix the crystals with water to make a solution that will also clean as effectively as any commercial and over priced cleaning product. In my bathroom, I have one of those heated towel/radiators, but over the summer, the humidity of the shower and lack of heating and windows made little spots of rust settle in the corners of the metallic towel rack (urgh). A mixture of Soda Crystals and water, and a mild scrubbing action from my good self shifted the spots fine. Around the bathroom and kitchen, the stuff is bloody phenomenal. It helps shifts limescale, helps clean burnt on food (when soaked in it), will remove grease and clean floors. The solution can also help shift moss on patios and clean up barbeques (I've never actually tried this, but their website informs me so). I've also used it to clean and refresh drains...for this, all you have to do is chug a load of it down your sink, then 'sluice' (nice word) it down with warm water. This has worked a treat for my numerous times, it also works for outdoor drains.
The only 'do nots' with it, is don't clean anything aluminium based, as the aluminium won't thank you for it. This also goes for varnished or laquered surfaces. Also, it's best to use rubber gloves if handling it as a solution...I once didn't and it dried up my hands and made them crack and go bleedy and sore (sorry for that appauling grammar, I've just finished a 9 hour work day, with ½ hour for lunch, all my choice, but hey)...not nice. Although it will soften water for cleaning, you can't use it to soften drinking water, that would be silly! It needs to be stored in a cool dry place too. So don't keep it in your saunas! Oh, and I should mention...don't confuse it with sugar or salt and eat it...you will die (but at least your insides will be clean).
If you need a helping hand going green, I would whole heartedly recommend to try using these granules of wonderment. Once my washing powder tablets have run out, I'm going to start using the Soda Crystals with borax and soap flakes...I'm also going to try using them with soapnuts (but that's a whole other review). Hopefully in a few months time, I'll be helping the environment more by not using bleach and commercial nonsense...and also saving a few bob at the same time, to add into my 'fun fund'.
If you want to find out more about them and their uses, check out their website: www.soda-crystals.co.uk
(for some reason, Ciao thinks that Soda Crystals is a website, well it's not...you couldn't download squit from a bag and it has no search function facility or tracking function...only put it in your washing etc)
Pictures of Soda Crystals
The bag they come in
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
Feb 3rd, 2009
exceptional by (11%):
very helpful by (89%):
