Americans' clothes should be pretty clean: The average household washes more than 300 loads of laundry a year. Altogether we spend more than three billion dollars on laundry detergent.

Consumer Reports tested 29 detergents and found some do a much better job than others.

Consumer Reports tests liquid laundry detergent and powdered detergent--some for top loaders and others specifically formulated for high-efficiency front loaders. Tests cover a wide range of brands, including the market leaders (Tide, All and Purex), as well as many store brands.

To see how well the laundry detergents clean, Consumer Reports uses swatches soaked in tough-to-clean substances representing eight common household stains: chocolate syrup, spaghetti sauce, ring around the collar, (which is a mixture of oil and dirt), mud, grass stain, coffee, grape juice, and blood.

The tests showed some of the detergents didn't do as good a job as others at cleaning stains.

On clothes that were washed in not-so-good detergent, Consumer Reports testers were still able to see the colors of the stains. Other detergents did a much better job and the results showed the stains were almost completely removed.

The best performers are three detergents made by Tide: Tide with Bleach, Tide Cold Water (which was excellent in cold water), and Tide HE for front loaders.

But Consumer Reports tests show you can get very good results with detergents that cost less than half the price. For top-loaders, Consumer Reports named Ultra Mountain Fresh from Wal-Mart a Best Buy. For front-loaders, there are two Best Buys: Kirkland Ultra Laundry Detergent HE from Costco and Ultra Plus HE with Fabric Softener from Sears.

Here's another way to save money--if you don't have a particularly dirty load of laundry, Consumer Reports says use less than the recommended amount of detergent.

----

Consumer Reports

----

Contact KY3 is a consumer information feature that runs in various  newscasts. If you have a consumer question or complaint, contact KY3 at 1-800-KY3-TIPS or e-mail us at contact@ky3.com.  And you can always write to us at PO Box 3500, Springfield, Missouri, 65808.