Like many people here, I also use Simple Green. It's cheap and biodregradable. You can literally get gallons of it for $10 at Costco. I have a SRAM chain with the PowerLink and just take it off my bike, drop it into a tuperware container with the Simple Green and shake vigorously. Then I let it sit for a bit while I clean the rest of the bike. When it comes time to reinstall the chain, I shake it up again, dry it off and pop it back on. Then I apply some Dumonde chain lube on each link while backpedalling using the PowerLink to tell me that I've gone through the whole chain.