The Washing Game - Test 1
Planning. Researching. Testing. It has to be done.
Background: as I have found, when driving a fifth wheel, there are many things you have to consider. One of the first things to consider is weight. There’s only so make weight the fifth wheel can tolerate. When you look at these vehicles, they will be listed with a dry weight and a gross weight. The dry weight is the weight of the actual fifth wheel, how much is weighs without anything in it, no water, no propane, no personal items. The gross weight is how much a person can add to the fifth wheel before it’s overloaded. That includes the water (if any), propane, food, personal goods and people. It’s generally about one ton of added weight. So eliminating excessive weight is necessary to maximize the area and personal needs.
Since I have time before I’m getting a fifth wheel, I decided to start testing items that I could use in the fifth wheel but eliminate excessive weight. While some of these things can be worked around, such as just buying items like food once you get to a campground and get rid of food before leaving, this can be wasteful. Buying only what you need and not holding onto leftovers. But what about keeping things light first?
Laundry detergent.
It came to me that laundry detergent would be one of the first things I’d have to manage. Laundry detergent is heavy. The pods are not as bad, but I wondered if there were any good sheets that would clean well and be lightweight. Of three, sheets would be the lightest and easiest to carry. I ordered a box of laundry sheets
Test #1 - Zimwin Laundry Detergent Sheets
There are three “scents”: lavender, fresh scent and fragrance-free. I went with the fragrance-free, because I have terrible allergies and many things can set them off. I’ve been using ‘free’ items for years. Overall, this seems like a good alternative to liquid detergent. The clothes came out smelling clean. A few things had pet accidents on, so those items coming out smelling clean are a positive. The stains were also removed, so the cleaning ability seems good too. Now I have a very standard washer, low-level appliance.
At first, I worried that the sheets didn’t completely dissolve. I’ve seen reviews that proclaim many of their sheets didn’t completely dissolve. I remember once I used Zote Soap Flakes and they didn’t dissolve completely. Now….I’m not placing blame solely on Zote. It could have been user error. I acknowledge this. But it does make me leery of using the flakes. But flakes would make a great alternative too. However, with the sheets, I felt a bit safer that they would dissolve. In my first load, I did find clumps of white in my washer. I was dismayed. The sheets didn’t dissolve completely! How could this be?
Then I cleaned the washer out.
User error. Again.
My first load was towels I received at Christmas, and I had missed one of the paper tags. Whoops.
Overall, I feel confident that these sheets can do the job. I haven’t discovered any issues with the sheets yet. I’ll revisit this later on, as I work with these sheets some more.
Test #2 - Arm & Hammer Power Sheets Laundry Detergent, Fresh Linen
Arm & Hammer only has scented sheets at the moment, so I had to go with them. I will say, they do smell incredible. Opening the box was delightful. I could get used it, but we’ll see if my allergies kick in later.
After my first load, the clothes smelled nice as I was moving them to the dryer. Overall, they seem to be clean. I do have concerns that it’s irritating my allergies. Or I’ve been exposed to something at work, which is highly possible. I’ll have to test the theory and get back to you. I also plan to do a serious clean test, with stained white towel to see how well they really clean. But for now, it seems that both of these clean nicely.
Stay tuned. More testing coming!
