Pop In, Stand Out

I've always viewed product demos with a mixture of skepticism and awe.  There's no doubt that they're compelling, but I've been let down too many times by "miracle" products to fully trust in anything these days.  So when I got an opportunity to review Tide Pods, I decided to put it to the test and see what it could really do.  And since I'm a former lab geek, let's approach this old-school experiment style :)

Purpose: To test the performance of Tide Pods on frequently encountered stains like food, dirt, and makeup

Materials:

• White fabric swatch
• Tide Pod 
• Food stain 
• soy sauce - high usage frequency / high staining
• Dirt stain 
• the black gunk stuck to the car.  I don't know how, but the kids and I are constantly brushing up against the cars and leaving long, black streaks on our clothes
• Makeup stain 
• black powdered eyeliner.  I drop the container at least once a year making a giant mess of everything and nothing seems to completely remove it.  I've tried makeup remover / dish detergent / laundry detergent, there's still a faded black glob. :(

Procedure:  Apply stains to new white t-shirt fabric and toss it in with a load of laundry.  Household of 5?  You bet we always have some laundry somewhere at the ready.

Results:  The whole load of laundry came out clean as expected, but I was really interested in seeing my fabric swatch.

I was amazed by how completely the stains had been removed.  The swatch was 100% clean and there was no sign it had ever been stained.  The best part?  I didn't have to do anything special to achieve it - no soaking / stain sprays / scrubbing / pretreating at all.  All I had to do was start the washer, pop the pac in with the laundry, and let it do its magic.  Per the package, each pac contains 3-in-1 detergent technology that cleans, brightens, and fights stains.

Conclusion: While laundry isn't rocket science, I loved that this made it completely brainless.  No more squinting at hard to read measurements on detergent caps and trying to determine which one best correlates to your load size, no giant, heavy detergent bottles, no crusty detergent caps, and no accidental spills - this might now be the cleanest, most organized room in the house!

Tell me what you think the toughest stains are for a chance to win a $100 gift card!

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This giveaway is open to US Residents age 18 or older. Winner will be selected via random draw, and will be notified by e-mail. You have 72 hours to get back to me, otherwise a new winner will be selected.

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This sweepstakes runs from 10/03/2013 - 11/03/2013.