Tide Oxi Blogger Challenge

As I get older, more and more of my childhood upbringing seems to fade away. But there’s one thing I remember well. Laundry day. Saturday was the day we got up early and set to work. There were only two laundry soaps my mom would use: Tide and Ivory Snow. We had an old Maytag vintage wringer washer. I would stand on a stool to feed the clothes through the wringer. Then take them out back to hang on the clothes line to dry. Those were the days!

Tide has a come a long way in 60 years, but one thing has stayed consistent: the quality of their product. If they say it cleans, it cleans!

The Challenge

I was recently invited to participate in the Tide OXI Blogger Challenge. Our mission was clear: take the power of Tide out of the laundry room. Find something out of the ordinary and bring it back to life.

With over 225 possible uses, I knew it wouldn’t be hard to find some stain to remove.  So I waited for a nice day and headed OUTside.  I really wanted to put Tide OXI to the test. I wanted to find something that I knew no other product would clean. And so began my visual tour of the exterior of our house.

Mission Accepted

One of the things that the container indicated it would clean in the wash was clay. Here in Virginia, we are well-known for our red clay.  I put the wheels in my brain to work, and began to think … if the new Tide OXI works on clay in the wash, I wonder if it will remove the clay that has been splattered all over the brick and the porch posts on our house.

I gathered my supplies …

… and got to work. Per the directions, I measured the amount of Tide OXI I would need for the spray bottle, and added warm, not hot, water. The first thing I noticed was the smell. It was very fresh and clean smelling, but not overpowering.

Project One: Porch Posts

As you can see in the picture above, our porch posts are one red clay mess.  For the last year we’ve been working on and off on the side porch. Now we are finally at the point where we are going to start working on the landscaping around the porch.  I’ve tried wiping these posts down, but the red clay has splattered on the posts from the rain, and then sun-baked on.  Even if I try rinsing it or wiping it off, I just end up with pink posts.

So let’s see if Tide OXI holds true to its claim.

I started out by spraying the Tide OXI solution on the post. I let it run down a bit, then sprayed again after a few minutes. It took off all the loose dirt and just kinda made everything pink. I gave it a third spray and then grabbed my brush and gently started scrubbing.  I shouldn’t have been surprised to find that with hardly any elbow grease at all, the clay was coming off.

And literally in less than five minutes, I had a perfectly white post. Whoo hoo! You can tell in the picture below where I stopped scrubbing. If I got too close to the dirt with the brush, I’d end up putting more dirt back onto the post. We’ll be putting down landscape paper and adding some kind of mulch, so that area will be covered up. Isn’t the difference amazing! I’m going to wait until we’re ready to paper before I do the rest of the posts. Thunderstorms are in the forecast for the next week, so there will definitely be more dirt splattering.

Score: Tide OXI – 1; Red Clay – 0

Hmmm … the Tide OXI worked so well on the painted posts, I wondered if it would make any difference at all on the brick. You can see in the picture above how badly stained the brick is. Our house is seven years old, so that stuff has been building up for a long, long time.

Project Two: Exterior Brick

For my test area, I chose a smaller brick section by the garage door.
I basically did the same routine as I did for the posts.  I sprayed the brick, let it set for a few minutes, and sprayed again.  I made sure it was good and soaked, then grabbed my scrub brush and started scrubbing.  As you know, brick is very porous, so I kinda expected to have to put a little more oomph in my scrubbing.  I’ll have to admit that I went into this part of the project with a bit of skepticism.  I knew that the clay had baked into the brick for a long time and the likelihood of getting it off was pretty slim.

But lo and behold, with a series of spray and scrub, spray and scrub, spray and scrub, the red clay started to come off.  I began to notice that after I sprayed, it was almost as if the Tide OXI was sucking the clay right out of the brick.

You can see in the picture above how most of it has come off.  There’s still a little bit more on the left and the bottom. Wow!

After a few more sprays and scrubs, the brick practically looked brand new.

Score: Tide OXI – 2; Red Clay – 0

Mission Accomplished!

My overall opinion of the product is that I’m extremely impressed.  Probably the biggest thing that I love about the new Tide OXI is that it performs like an industrial strength cleaning product without the harsh smell or feel. I’m one of these gals that never wears gloves when I clean. The comparative Oxi-Clean product has always left my hands very dry and burns if I have any minor scrapes or cuts.  I did not have that at all with the Tide OXI.  In fact, it was just the opposite … my hands felt soft after using it. I have no doubt that if the Tide OXI could pass the test of removing Virginia red clay from my posts and brick, that it could truly remove just about any stain.

So now I pass the challenge on to you!  Pick up a container of the new Tide OXI Multi-Purpose Stain Remover, pick a few #BrightIdeas and #TideThat.  You’ll be glad you did!

~~ This post is part of the Tide OXI Blogger Challenge.  I received a gift card to Home Depot to purchase the Tide OXI Multi-Purpose Stain Remover and any other supplies needed to complete this project.  All opinions are 100% my own. For more information, see my disclosures here. ~~