I am using a liquid detergent and I use exactly the half of the detergent they say I should use. If a the washing machine requires 1 cup, I do half. Mostly because I don’t trust the company to put me over their interests.
Now, what will happen? Will my clothes end up staying dirty? Will it not remove stains which a full cup would have removed? Will surfexcel kidnap me and torture me for not obeying their commands? Help meeee!!
The first technolgy connections video with the words washing machine in it.
This is a dishwashing machine video, not a clothes washing machine video.
The only harm is using too much. My mother-in-law has ruined multiple washing machines over the years. She doesn’t understand that modern high efficiency machines require very little detergent and proceeds to clog them up with too much.
I literally had to teach my wife how to do laundry correctly when we got married so she wouldn’t ruin the washing machine.
Another thing is good quality washing machine cleaner/descaler/degreaser
Use it every year, or every six months in hard water areas. Drastically increases the life of your machine, and it’ll keep washing like it did when it was new
I actually do the cleaner every couple of months and use vinegar once a week, at the end of my first load. (my water tests between 300-400ppm) I also gave up on fabric softener and dryer sheets when I found just running the dryer again with no heat for 20min gives me the same result. (less residue left behind in the washer/dryer and cleaner skin)
Typically one trusts the instructions, but it does depend on the kind and quality of detergent, the quality of the machine, and the amount and types of clothes. I myself just entered an era of having no working machines for two days (on my third and am surviving on a pink hoodie over purple plaid shirt, jeans, and temple garment bra/panties which is my “last life”) because the slots are broken on both home and public machines and do a half-effective job.
Keep in mind that the instructions are written by those who wish to extract money from you.
It’s not like they’re stealing it. They’re just guiding you on how to use detergent.
It’s like saying the people who make microwavable popcorn are extracting money from me because they struggle to take into consideration how the microwave works.
If (hypothetically) they specifically guide you to use more than necessary, thus wasting detergent, theyre making you spend more money on their product, thus extracting money from you.
Microwave popcorn isn’t a reasonable analogue because you don’t “use more product” following their instructions. Maybe hot chocolate is a good example? Every package I’ve bought has suggested using basically 2x as much as I find I need to make a mug of it.
But they’re incentivised to tell you to use more detergent even if you don’t need to, leading you to needlessly spend more money.
Any effect should be immediately obvious, shouldn’t it? If your clothes are still dirty after washing, that’s something you can see/smell/feel. Anything else that your average detergent claims to do is luxury.
Persistent smell of sweat doesn’t reappear immediately after washing, it takes a few days. Then you’ll know if you used too little detergent. Could use a vinegar soak or wash (or bleach for whites), because detergents can’t dissolve everything.
How much you need depends entirely on the hardness of your water.
If half a serving is enough to get your clothes smelling clean, then you’re using enough.
