Laundry detergent consumption

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Baqn

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I have a question that has excited me for some time. Is there a way for household washing powder to have lower consumption than commercial dust. How much of your house dust do you use? Have you investigated this?
 
In the U.S., commercial laundry powder detergent comes with quite a large measuring cup. When I use homemade powder, I only use a couple of tablespoons. So, yes-- speaking of my personal experience, I use less homemade laundry powder than the commercial ones.
 
I think people often use a lot more commercial laundry powder (dust) because we do not measure it accurately. Artemis is correct -- the measuring cups that come with commercial laundry powder are too large. The cup is harder to use correctly than a smaller cup.

I think commercial laundry powder is just as effective at cleaning (and perhaps a bit better) compared with homemade laundry powder. If I measure commercial laundry powder carefully to get the same cleaning results, the amount I use is about the same as when I use homemade laundry powder.
 
I throw out the extra large cup that comes with my laundry powder and use one from an old oxy-clean container. I would estimate it holds about 2 tablespoons. It gets my clothes clean.
 
I think people often use a lot more commercial laundry powder (dust) because we do not measure it accurately. Artemis is correct -- the measuring cups that come with commercial laundry powder are too large. The cup is harder to use correctly than a smaller cup.

I think commercial laundry powder is just as effective at cleaning (and perhaps a bit better) compared with homemade laundry powder. If I measure commercial laundry powder carefully to get the same cleaning results, the amount I use is about the same as when I use homemade laundry powder.

I have stopped making my own laundry detergent/soap (powder) and simply buy the cheapest brand available and use half as much as what is usually recommended. It gets out the dirt, the grime, the odors just fine using less.

I stopped making my own because I got tired of the hassle and the dust it makes when I turned bar soap into powder, which creates just too much dust. The detergent I now use is the same one my DIL buys, which is Foca brand or Roma brand, whichever is available & cheaper. They are both the least expensive laundry powder in the stores I shop and work just as well as any other I have used in the past, so I don't buy the expensive stuff. I use a coffee scoop to measure my laundry powder, and generally only 2 - 3 scoops per load, depending on the size of the load (1/2 in the pre-wash cycle and 1/2 in the regular cycle.)
 
@earlene -- I have gone back to commercial laundry detergent too. We use a 2-tablespoon "coffee" scoop to measure the detergent now -- no more of those oversized, hard to use cups that encourage waste.

The homemade soap mix doesn't clean any better than the commercial product. In fact I think the commercial detergent does a better job of removing oil spots and greasy dirt (ongoing problems with my clothing due to my job). I also was finding I had to use warm or hot to get better cleaning results with soap, but I can use cold water with synthetic detergent.

The out-of-pocket cost per load for homemade laundry soap is about the same as for the commercial product as long as they're both measured accurately. If I factor in a fair wage for my time (and the cost of heating water), homemade costs more.
 
First, I'm just glad to understand the original post. I was so confused but hoping someone with more sense than I would come along.

@DeeAnna and @earlene - Given my recent washing machine "adventure (still gagging, btw)" I'm seriously considering going back to commercial laundry detergent too. But, the only reason I started using homemade detergent regularly four years ago was that it works better with our water, which is high in tannins. I've written somewhere before, that it's like washing your clothes in pond water or in lightly brewed tea. This means anything white or light colored quickly takes on a tan hue, which is especially noticeable in stretchy areas like the collars of white t-shirts. Bleach seems to just set the stain, but my skin can't take bleached clothes so my experimentation with that was limited. For the first few months here I sprayed all collars and whites with diluted Dawn, but eventually that stopped working. Soaking t-shirts overnight in detergent (and every other suggestion I found) didn't help. Finally I realized coffee cups and the like came clean much easier with my liquid soap than with Dawn. So, I pulled out an old tub of homemade laundry soap and I almost fainted the first time I saw white clothes actually come out white. Just one wash, and they were white again.


Why do you think soap is so better at cleaning in these tannins than detergent? Can you think of any detergent, or detergent ingredient, that might be effective "against" tannins? I don't think liquid soap would do any good in even my HE machine, do you?
 
I haven't researched tannins, but I do know iron is colorless when reduced and colored when oxidized (think rust). Oxalic acid is a good bleach for iron stains in wood or fabric (if used with care), because it reduces the colored iron compounds into colorless ones.

My guess is tannins are colorless at alkaline pH. I know they are colored at acidic pH (think red wine). If you use just synthetic detergent to wash your laundry, the pH of the wash water is probably neutral to somewhat acidic. Soap is alkaline so it's going to make the wash water alkaline as well, this is especially true if you also include washing soda in the wash water to maintain the cleaning effectiveness of the soap.

You could try adding borax or washing soda along with synthetic detergent -- that might do the trick. It's worth a try anyways.

I want to stress I'm just guessing here -- I don't have time to do the research this morning to give you a definite answer.
 
I haven't researched tannins, but I do know iron is colorless when reduced and colored when oxidized (think rust). Oxalic acid is a good bleach for iron stains in wood or fabric (if used with care), because it reduces the colored iron compounds into colorless ones.

My guess is tannins are colorless at alkaline pH. I know they are colored at acidic pH (think red wine). If you use just synthetic detergent to wash your laundry, the pH of the wash water is probably neutral to somewhat acidic. Soap is alkaline so it's going to make the wash water alkaline as well, this is especially true if you also include washing soda in the wash water to maintain the cleaning effectiveness of the soap.

You could try adding borax or washing soda along with synthetic detergent -- that might do the trick. It's worth a try anyways.

I want to stress I'm just guessing here -- I don't have time to do the research this morning to give you a definite answer.
I SO appreciate your reply, DeeAnna. What you say makes sense and at least I now have a new starting point to my research. I've already found one usgs study I would have never found if not for your guess.
I have always been a fan of Borax and Washing Soda, and I had tried these in many ways to combat the dreaded "tanninitis" to no avail.

I've started one experiment based on your guess. Here's a before photo where you can see the level of tannins. Just from careful filtering it's now not so bad, but you can clearly see the difference between the tap water on the Left and the RO water on the Right.
FullSizeRender (60).jpg
 
Well maybe the question is badly structured. I don'tknow where that "dust" came from. My initial idea is if it is possible to use less home made powder made of soap, Sodium carbonate, etc. than you are used to use from commercial laundry detergent. I have read the suggested quantity - 1-2 tablespoons and so on. I can't believe that home made product can be more potent than commercial. Maybe better in cleaning but not more space saving. I think that you switched to commercial again because you followed the instructions for the quantity powder per load. It is hard to explain here but it is impossible to use less soap based detergent than commercial. I have read some reports that say old fashioned detergents are worse than present ones. From my experienceit is not true.
 
To answer your question, @Baqn -- No, I don't think homemade laundry mix is more potent than commercial. In fact, I think most of the homemade versions out on the internet are far less potent. For example, many, many tutorials call for a single bar of soap to make a huge container of mix that is supposed to last months.

If your clothing is not very dirty to begin with, a mix that includes very little soap might work okay to freshen one's clothes, but it's not really a very efficient cleanser for dirtier clothes. Even with the more concentrated dry soap mix I made, I found dirty, oily clothes didn't get sufficiently clean unless I pretreated every oily and extra-grimy spot and also used hot water for washing rather than warm or cold water. My husband has very oily skin and I often get greasy dirt and oil spots on my clothing due to my job.

When I went back to using commercial detergent, I found pretreating is needed only for the worst of the stains. I only use hot water for very dirty loads. The key thing for me was deciding to measure the detergent accurately with a small measuring cup -- not the cup that comes with the detergent. This greatly reduces waste.

The volume of commercial detergent I use is about the same as when I used dry laundry mix. I get cleaner clothes and use less energy.
 
Thank you @DeeAnna. My asked you because I made such detergent and couldn't use less than 60g. Which absolutely corresponds with your answer. There is advertisement that says their powder is more efficient and more concerned than commercial. They claim they use only soap and natural ingredients. I spent days in exploring how laundry detergents are made and couldn't figure out how might they achieved that power. Now I can conclude that it is misinformation and fake claims. Correct me if I am wrong.
 
I think you are correct. People make a lot of claims to sell their products. Not every claim is truthful!
 
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