I am always surprised by how much laundry detergent the average person uses for a wash load. Watching a friend throw some laundry in her machine the other day, I observed her method of just filling the cap up to the top with liquid detergent and tossing it in. She didn’t even look to see if the detergent went past the fill line. Not only was she using more detergent than she needed, but she was also ruining the life of her clothing, by leaving all of that extra detergent to absorb into her items.
Using less of something is always a great way to save money. Laundry detergent is definitely an area where you can use less and still get great results. I never ever use the recommended amount of laundry detergent in my wash. It just isn’t necessary, especially with today’s high efficiency washing machines. And judging from some of the comments on the laundry articles here at Families.com, there are plenty of folks who agree with me.
But, how much should you use? Well, a good rule of thumb is to go down at least one notch on the recommended amount. For example, if you are doing a large load, only fill the detergent to the medium load line. If you clothes are only lightly soiled, you might even go down another notch to the recommend amount for a small load. This is still a pretty conservative move, since you may be able to get by with even less detergent.
Some people use half the recommended amount as a general rule. This can work pretty well, too, especially if you usually have small loads.
You can also do some experimenting on your own to see if you can use less detergent. A good way to do this is to take an item of clothing out of the washer and submerge in some warm or cold water. Swish it around for a bit and see if there are any suds in the water. If there are, then you are probably using more detergent than you need to use to clean your laundry.
Mary Ann Romans also writes for the Computing Blog here at Families.com where she shares everything from the latest news on technology to cool downloads and fun websites.
Related Articles:
Frugal Laundry: Make Your Own “Detergent”