A post in the No Spend Summer Challenge series…
I think scalawags who make laundry detergent (and therefore, laundry detergent measuring cups) intentionally make it difficult to figure out how much of the stuff to use. Can anyone relate?
The instructions on the bottle clearly state that for a normal-sized load, you should fill the cup to the “1” line.
Except you cannot see the 1 line without magnifying glasses and ultra-bright lighting, and there are 6 lines (actually, they look more like bars on a graph) in total.
Why, I ask!?
Do yourself a favor. Stick it to the man today. Take a Sharpie or a bit of nail polish and paint a line at the correct level of the measuring cup so you can easily see it every time you do laundry. Which around here, is 3-4 times a DAY. This stuff matters people.
Or go all Amy Dacyczyn
You can see how huge the measuring cup is, leading the spendthrift person to go ahead and fill it up. To the top. Thereby using 400% too much.
Once you learn a frugal thing, you can’t unlearn it. You’ll save yourself money for the rest of your natural laundry-washing life.
p.s. If that line is for a “normal” load, then it follows you can use less if you’re washing a small load and/or a load that’s not as dirty.
So sometimes I forget to put detergent in, and I don’t want to waste water by doing the load again… so I don’t 😛 Almost always the clothes turn out fine! I think the average person is definitely using too much detergent.
HA! True. I was going to add in the post that this is the reason those “laundry balls” work – for a time. Because they’re just lathering up old soap that didn’t rinse thoroughly. 🙂