The laundry rooms in our apartment complex have been retrofitted. There are now mostly front-loading machines that use very little HE liquid detergent and cannot run on powder detergent.

They left two old top-loading machines that can be used with powder detergent.

I do realize the HE detergent is economical, but for one reason or another, I have accumulated enough powder Tide and powder Oxy-clean (sp?) to last an eternity. I need to burn through the powder Tide. I have no money to waste atm.

I am thinking that at the very least, bed sheets (cotton) and towels can go into the top-loading machine. I do not wear jeans. I wear skirts, dresses, and yoga pants. Most of them require cold cycle. But do they require front-loading washers?

Also, I have a few of those net bags, some with zippers, some with strings. If I put blouses that have buttons, or tank tops that have spaghetti straps into those bags and close them securely, can I put them into the top loading machine?

Another thing is that the new front loading washers only have a 23 min cycle. They do not allow an extra rinse cycle. Can clothes be washed so efficiently in just 23 mins?

There is an officially declared state of drought in California, so maybe the change is due to that...