Charlie’s Soap claims four things: Cleans dirt you can see. Cleans the residues you can't see. Helps preserve your clothes. Helps sustain the environment. I can honestly say that they do ALL these things! I am so thrilled to have had the chance to use their various soaps for so many months. From their various types of laundry soaps to their bathroom cleaner and their indoor/outdoor cleaner; we set aside all other products and jumped into Charlie’s Soap. Charlie’s Soap not only has an environmentally sound solution, but their soaps actually work. Let’s talk about how these were used in our home.

Each of their soaps is sold on their website in two-packs, but the pricing below is per item so you can see how economic these soaps really are.
 

Laundry Soaps

Laundry Single Dose Powder Packets 30 count $12.99
Laundry Powder 1.32 lbs bags (50 Wash Loads) $12.99
Laundry Liquid 16 oz (40 wash loads) $12.99
Laundry Liquid Gallon (160 loads) $29.99
Laundry Pre-Spray (16 oz Sprayer) $7.99
Oxygen Bleach (2.64 lbs bag) $12.99
Booster & Hard Water (2.64 lbs bag) $12.99

Kitchen and Household Soaps

Kitchen & Bath Household Cleaner (32 oz sprayer) $9.99
Indoor/Outdoor Surface Cleaner (32 oz sprayer) $9.99
Indoor/Outdoor Surface Cleaner (1 gallon) $21.99

Laundry Soaps

As you can see, the laundry options are liquid or powder, and these come in various sizes and packaging options. They are also safe for regular or HE washers. I wanted to see how their small “serving” or use size worked in our busy family of six people. I have working children and they come home sweaty and dirty. I used the Pre-Spray on spots I thought might need it, and I did not add anything extra to the soap. I am used to the mindset that you use a lot of soap and hot water and that it won’t work otherwise. I was very pleasantly surprised to see that the small amount of soap did indeed work well and cleaned the clothing perfectly. The Pre-Spray was excellent, and I was very pleased to see that it did what it said it would do! I did add more soap if the load was particularly dirty, but in comparison, the use size is still very small. I was also able to use hot or cold water and that it did not make a difference in the cleaning. (Yeah for saving money on hot water!) I also discovered that I could use the Oxygen Bleach on my non-white towels when they became funky from sitting in the basket too long. The Oxygen Bleach is not like regular bleach and it is color-safe and septic safe too. Try as I might to detect it, there was no odor left in the towels when the dryer finished!

The laundry soap works the same whether powder or liquid, and the ease of the Single Dose Powder Packet is fantastic especially if you have a child helping with the laundry. Economically, it is sounder to buy the liquid or powder in bulk, but I found it was so nice and easy to grab a little biodegradable bag and toss it into the wash. There was nothing left of the little bag and they do absolutely dissolve in the wash load. Interestingly, they do not use scents, dyes, clays, phosphates, brighteners or perfumes of any kind in their laundry soap and that was a refreshing change. If you want it, you have to add it, but for those with allergies or a dislike of these things, this is a perfect choice. Their laundry soaps are hypoallergenic, rinse out cleanly, are biodegradable, and non-toxic.

The Laundry Booster and Hard Water Treatment was not something that I initially knew what to do with because I do not have hard water. Eventually I did try it to see what it would do in my hardest (read smelliest) loads. I did find that it helped remove the trapped odors in my towels when I did not choose to use the bleach product. Towels are always my “plumb line” for any soap and these products passed with flying colors.

Kitchen & Bath Household Cleaner

My youngest oversees cleaning the bathrooms and we have often used much harsher chemicals in our bathroom due to the regular homeschool use here. (Meaning that we are always here and always using the bathrooms!) I asked her to use only the Kitchen & Bath Household Cleaner to test it out. She used it as noted on the bottle and our bathrooms were not only non-toxic to *her* while cleaning, but also turned out clean and beautiful. The ease of use was nice too and the spray bottle works well. These are not cheaply made, but intended to last. I have granite in the kitchen and it does a very nice job cleaning off grease as well as sticky messes in the kitchen too.

It is useful for all washable surfaces in the kitchen and bathroom from tubs, showers, walls, and sinks to tile, stonework, and stove tops. It really does cut the grease on the stove and I used it on bacon grease just to make sure!

Indoor/Outdoor Surface Cleaner

This was one I really wanted to try on something truly dirty. I had a well-worn living room rug that needed some special love and attention. It is one of those larger area rugs that are difficult to clean. I took it outside and hosed it down. Then I sprayed the Indoor/Outdoor Surface Cleaner on it and started scrubbing with a plastic brush. I was honestly considering throwing this away and buying a new one. This cleaner gave it new life. Not only did it take the dog scent away, rinsed out cleanly, but it really cleaned it up and brought it back to life. I also used this when cleaning the inside of our van, and have used it on the floors with great success.

I am genuinely impressed with Charlie’s Soaps. I am a picky soap buyer because I don’t like doing things more than once. I want my soap to work, to work well, and not to ask me to work harder than I need to when running my house and homeschooling my family. Charlie’s Soap does all that and more with deep cleaning as well as being environmentally friendly. This is 100% awesome to me and I highly recommend them.

-Product review by Kate Kessler, Product Reviews Director, The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine, LLC, October, 2017