9 reasons for doing it:

    The agitation in the washer gets ‘em just as clean (warm wash, cold rinse)
    Helps the environment — it’s just water washing out the light dirt and sweat
    Saves money
    There’s no assaulting, acrid smell of “Ocean Breeze” all over my clothes
    They smell fresher actually — or is it just that I’ve gotten too sensitive to smells?
    Clothes seem to last longer and the colour hasn’t faded as fast as a result
    I (and BF) am not rolling around in mud, blood and grease on a regular basis
    I don’t need to wait and let the soap dissolve in the water before dumping it all in
    Note: I pre-treat any sort of stain if I think it might be an issue: blood, grass, wine…

My only exception(s):

Right now, I use(d) soap nuts and this eco-friendly laundry detergent with a slight orange smell only when there are dirty, greasy kitchen towels in the mix.

In the future, I am going to use cloth diapers on my kids, so I’ll have to use detergent to get their diapers clean and sanitized.

Other than that, in my experience, it is unnecessary to use detergent and laundry sheets.

    Full disclosure:

    I wash and dry my clothes in the building’s laundry room, so maybe the residue of soap and residue of dryer sheets are contributing to my lack of static cling & cleanliness?

    I am inclined to think that it plays a part, but a very small one.

    I’ve known people who have dryers in their home, drying their clothes without any dryer sheets, tennis balls, or dryer balls; their clothes came out just fine.

I am also starting to air dry my clothes all over my apartment.