Purex Laundry Detergent vs Tide Laundry Detergent
For years, I was brainwashed into believing that the more expensive, name-brand laundry products worked better than their lower priced competitors. Then one week, as I was picking up laundry detergent, I noticed that Purex Laundry Detergent was on sale for $2.99 for a 100-oz. bottle. The same size of my usual Tide Laundry Detergent was on sale for $5.49. I was happy with the results I was getting with Tide, but for a $2.50 savings, I decided it was worth a try. That week I was able to test the Purex on everything from whites to blacks and fine knits to denim. I was not able to tell any difference in my laundry at all. Except for the occasional mystery greasy spot that appears only after the garment is dried, everything came out just as clean as with Tide. And those mystery spots-I had them when I was using Tide as well.
Both 100 oz. bottles do 32 loads of laundry. Both measure the same. Tide advertises that whites washed in their product are brighter than whites washed in other detergents, but I am not able to notice any difference with Purex. The scent is pleasant but not overpowering. So I rushed back to the store and picked up two more bottles of Purex while it was still on sale. Tide, made by Proctor & Gamble, is certainly the more heavily advertised brand and there are many more product choices. But Purex, made by Dial Corp, has a comparable product for every type of detergent available under the Tide brand. Both products can come in both powder and liquid varieties.
Tide has 14 different types of powders which essentially mimic the liquid choices. Both brands offer liquids with fabric softener, HE versions, a fragrance/color free variety, and a product with a bleach alternative. Tide offers products with Febreze; Purex has products with Renuzit. Purex is formulated to work well in cold water; Tide has two products it says are made specifically for cold water loads. Tide makes three different scents in each variety, whereas Purex has only one. I’ve learned, over the years since the detergent makers started putting different fragrances into their products, not to get too attached to any one fragrance, though. As soon as you do, the company discontinues that scent and introduces something new. The advertising war and war for shelf space has clearly been won by Tide.
In the stores, you will be hard pressed to even find the Purex and may not even be able to find all varieties of it. And let’s face it, the “Bob, the Fish” ads aren’t helping any. I find them kind of creepy and didn’t even remember what laundry soap they were advertising for the longest time. But I’m not really interested in paying for Tide to advertise their product to me or for them to make every product in their arsenal in three different scents. Even when Purex is not on sale, you can probably expect to save about $2 a bottle. For someone like me, that’s a savings of about $50 a year. That may not sound like much, $1 a week, but I’d rather save it than spend it!
