Down with evil laundry detergent measuring cup!

A post in the No Spend Summer Challenge series…

I think the scalawags who make laundry detergent (and therefore, 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 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. Refuse to submit to this tyranny that forces you to use excessive detergent.

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 (of The Tightwad Gazette), and use half that much, assess how it’s working, and level up incrementally until you hit the sweet spot.

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You can use this same philosophy with many other matters. Use much less than you think you need, and see if the results are satisfactory.

You can see how huge the measuring cup is, leading the reckless 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.

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