TIP! Maybe you’re using too much laundry detergent?

How much detergent is too much? Does anyone know?

May 26, 2015; 7:00 AM • by Ross Catrow

Back in 2010, the Wall Street Journal ran this hard hitting report on laundry detergent caps, an investigation into how bad Big Laundry was screwing its customers. Turns out detergent companies aren’t tricking us into using more soap than we need. Nope, most people just can’t be bothered to measuring out the proper amount of detergent and instead just eyeball it or fill the cap to the top–which is almost certainly too much soap. Too much soap not only is a waste of money, but, counter intuitively, can make your clothes even dirtier by creating a disgusting soily tide inside your washing machine.

So take a second and read the back of your detergent bottle and see what’s what–you could save some bucks and get cleaner clothes.

And here’s a bonus tip from Seventh Generation’s co-founder Jeffrey Hollender, which you’ll get if you read to the bottom of that WSJ article:

Seventh Generation’s co-founder, Jeffrey Hollender, wonders why more people haven’t stumbled upon laundry’s big, dirty secret: “You don’t even need soap to wash most loads,” he says. The agitation of washing machines often does the job on its own.

Now this is something I’m interested in! Quora’s not too stoked on the idea though.