Okay, I actually wrote this in...oh...March? I thought for sure I had published it the very next day. Today, I got into my drafts folder because I wrote something yesterday that I wanted to finish and publish and found this staring at me! It's good information, so I definitely want to share, so you'll just have to wait on the other post! Enjoy your education for the day!
My washer crapped out on me. My high efficiency, top of the line, didn't-get-any-better-than-that-when-we-bought-it-five-years-ago washer. I don't know about you, but to me, five years just doesn't seem like that long for a washing machine. Especially when for over three of those five years it was just my laundry and I'm not a dirty person. I mean, it's not like I play in the mud for a living. Another almost year of those five years it was just me and a toddler. Again, not a ton of dirt. Admittedly, I do have more dog hair going through my machine than most people, but I'm pretty anal about cleaning it out regularly and running vinegar through the machine pretty frequently (about once a week) to flush everything out. So, I called a repairman. I was thrilled that we didn't need to replace but a little surprised at the problem...I've been using too much detergent! I use HE detergent, in the amount recommended on the package (although, admittedly, on the rare occasion that I do have something really dirty in there [think rags used to clean up doggy messes], I have been known to add a little extra detergent). The repair man was super helpful (if you're in the greater Cincinnati area, try Morris Appliance Repair. They're prompt, friendly and super helpful. And no, they didn't pay me for this endorsement, they were just that good!) and gave me a little lesson on doing my laundry. Apparently in an HE machine, you should only use 1/4 to 1/2 the amount of detergent recommended, even though you're using HE detergent. And you should never use traditional detergent. Really. If you have some left over, give it to a friend. It will save you money in the long run! So that doesn't sound like much detergent, and you may be wondering how your clothes will get clean with that little soap, but think about it - an HE machine uses WAY less water, so it won't be able to rinse out as much detergent. So really, how can your clothes get clean if you use too much soap? High efficiency washers don't clean your clothes with soap and water, they work based on the friction your clothes create when tumbling around in there. So there you have it - stop overusing the soap. You'll save your washer and save yourself money on detergent, too! By the way, this is also a good reason to only run your washer when you have a full load of laundry. If you don't have enough fabric in there, you don't have enough friction and your clothes won't get clean. So there you go, saving yourself money on detergent, plus on water and electric but not running your washer as often since now you'll only do it when you have a full load...man, I should start a money saving blog with all these great ideas!
UPDATE: Yeah, because I have time for that, when I didn't even take the time to realize I never published this post! Hope you learned something, anyway!
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