Country Save is a company that sells biodegradable and earth friendly detergents from the same chemist who brought the world Elmer’s glue that just about everyone uses.
Ease of Use/Performance: 4/5
Convenience/Storage 2/5
Appearance/Design 4/5
How much I enjoy 5/5
Total: 4/5
Country Save Corp. was founded in 1977 by Elmer Pearson, the creator of Elmer’s Glue who worked for The Borden Company before moving on to found his own company. Country Save specializes in earth friendly cleaning products such as laundry detergent, dishwashing detergent and non-chlorine powdered bleach.
I received two products for review in the Country Save Powdered Laundry Detergent for High Efficiency washing machines and the Liquid Dish Detergent for the kitchen. The powdered laundry soap comes in a cardboard box with 40 uses for top loading washers and 80 uses for HE or high efficiency washers.
When washing clothes in a high efficiency machine you simply add one ounce of washing detergent or 1/8 of a scoop while the top load washing machines use a 1/4 scoop or 2 ounces. The Country Save detergent has a simple list of ingredients with sodium carbonate as the first one which is washing soda that most laundry detergents use for cleaning.
Washing soda or sodium carbonate is a water softener and helps to remove oil, grease and alcohol as well as stopping magnesium and calcium from bonding with other parts of the detergent. The detergent has the usual filler so that you don’t have a small box of detergent and use way too much in your washing as well as sodium percarbonate which is a main ingredient of non-chlorine bleach powders like Oxiclean.
The Country Save laundry detergent contains a total of five ingredients to keep things simple and to keep the detergent free of perfumes and dyes that are a problem for allergy sufferers. I for one like the idea of simple detergent ingredients and have been using dye free and perfume free detergents for several years due to allergies.
Some of the brands of laundry soaps I have been staying away from mostly due to the long list of ingredients that I do not want to bother with. The five ingredients of Country Save are all strictly there for cleaning or as I stated before a filler so that you don’t have a box the size of a deck of cards and use a teaspoon for measuring laundry detergent.
One complaint I even found was about the filler sodium sulfate even being in detergents but this is a common ingredient for almost any powdered laundry detergent and even many liquid ones. I have been guilty of just scooping a bunch of powder or pouring detergent directly from the bottle so I can see why manufacturers the world over use fillers so we don’t use too much.
Country Save Powdered Laundry Detergent does not contain dyes or perfumes and does not have much of a smell other than a fresh light scent. The detergent does a great job of washing and I have not seen any problems when using it as a regular laundry detergent or as a pretreater.
I have checked out customer reviews and have seen a lot of customers who really like and recommend Country Save as a great laundry detergent. The big sites like Consumer Reports have not included Country Save in their testing but with the good reviews by customers who have used it I can safely say it is a great detergent.
The only downside to the Country Save products is the lack of availability in local stores, there is a list at their website of 15 smaller grocery and natural product stores where you can buy them. You can order from the store websites or from the distributor at Alice.com but shipping will be included for orders of less than $50.
I also received the Country Save Dish Detergent to check out alongside the laundry detergent and have been using it for several weeks as well. The Country Save Dish Detergent does a great job of cutting the grease and oil associated with dishes from food like hamburger and bacon.
Country Save Dish Detergent has water, surfactants and sodium chloride as ingredients which is a truly short list for simple biodegradable ingredients. The dish detergent has no perfumes or dyes for allergy sufferers but it also does a great job of washing dishes as well as cutting grease and oil.
I have used it both side by side with a couple of other popular brands to compare the washing capabilities of this detergent compared to top brands. The Country Save brand does a great job at cutting the grease and is just as good at washing as any other brands but the smell could be the deciding factor.
Country save has a very light fresh fragrance while others have a heavy lemon or scented smell that can make washing dishes an almost unpleasant experience. The suds of Country Save Dish Detergent lasted a bit longer than others as well so the Country Save seemed to work a bit better.
I do all the dish washing in my home because I am working from home so I know what I am talking about when I say dish detergent has been getting weaker over the years. You used to use a small squirt in a sink of water and have suds to last through a strainer full of dishes, cup and the couple pots and pans but lately they seem to not last as long.
Now I have to add more detergent for many of the brands I buy which has usually been the ones on sale at my local grocery store. I have tried just about every brand at one time or another but they all seem to be getting less suds for the same amount of detergent.
I filled my two side by side sinks with hot water and added the same one tablespoon of detergent then stirred the spoon in each sink ten times in a circle to get the same amount of agitation in each sink. The sink with the Country Save seems to have a few more suds than the Ajax in the picture and the Dawn also had about this same amount of suds.
The Country Save seems to have more suds longer and this was when using an exact amount of one table spoon of detergent and comparing it to Dawn and Ajax. The one table spoon looked like it gave decent enough suds and they did last through a decent amount of dishes that a family of four would use at one meal.
The Country Save worked as well as the Dawn and Ajax at washing and cutting the grease but I and my wife both enjoy the lighter smell of the Country Save detergent. When comparing Country Save to previous detergents I have bought I would have to go with the gentler smelling and simple ingredients of Country Save.
Again we come to the one down side of Country Save and that is availability, Country Save works well and costs comparably with leading brands but ordering it can be a hassle. If you suffer from allergies and need a perfume free and dye free detergent for laundry and dishes Country Save would be well worth ordering.
I highly recommend Country Save Laundry Detergent and dish Detergent as some great household cleaning products that are simple and work well.
Country Save Website
