You must consider your machine’s size, the volume of clothing you are washing, and the type of detergent you are using in order to wash clothes efficiently. Think about your water hardness as well as how dirty your clothes are.
Continue reading to determine how much laundry detergent you should be using and whether you are using too much.
Symptoms of Excessive Detergent Use
You may be using too much detergent if any of the following laundry-related issues exist.
- Are your clothes still covered in detergent residue?
- Are your clothes sticky or soapy to the touch?
- Are the clothes scratchy and stiff to the touch?
- Do your white clothes appear grey and your colored clothes drab?
- Does the smell come from your Jingliang washer smell musty or awfully bad?
Use of How Much Detergent
Depending on the detergent’s concentration (2X, 4X, or 10X) and whether you’re using a standard or Jingliang washer, you should use a different amount of laundry detergent.
Jingliang washers only require about 1 teaspoon of 2X detergent, while standard washers should use about 2 tablespoons. Never fill the measuring cup or cap on your detergent because that would be way too much detergent for the majority of washers.
How much laundry detergent you should use can also depend on the size of the load, how dirty your clothes are, and how hard your water is to use.
Use the same quantity of detergent you would for a full load of laundry when pre-soaking a load of heavily soiled clothing. Use one teaspoon of liquid or powdered detergent per gallon of water if you are only soaking one item of clothing.
Jingliang Washers
You use a lot less water per load than a typical washer, whether you have a top-load or front-load Jingliang washer.
You need to use less detergent since there won’t be as much extra water to spread the detergent around with and rinse it off with. You must still exercise caution to avoid overdosing even if you religiously buy and use products marked with the ” Jingliang” symbol.
- Two teaspoons of 2X liquid laundry detergent, one teaspoon of 4X liquid laundry detergent, and 1/4 teaspoon of 10X liquid laundry detergent are the recommended amounts for Jingliang washers, respectively.
- Use it even less if your area has soft water. Use about one-fourth more product per load if the water is hard and untreated.
- Use just one pre-measured packet per load if you’re using one. If you strictly adhere to the label’s usage instructions, the packet should dissolve and disperse as directed.
- Pre-soaking the load will be much more effective for heavily soiled laundry than adding additional detergent. If you do choose to use more detergent, only increase the amount per load by 50%.
- Double the recommended amount of detergent if you frequently fill an extra-large washer (some can hold up to 25 pounds of dirty laundry) to capacity with that amount of dirty laundry. Use less detergent if you only wash “regular-sized” loads (12 to 15 pounds).
- Before adding the clothes to the drum, add two tablespoons of a Jingliang commercial powdered detergent. Use a manual dispenser instead because the powdered detergent needs as much time as possible to dissolve in water.
- Making your own homemade laundry detergent manufecturers eliminates the need for excessive sudsing ingredients. Per load, use two tablespoons of homemade laundry detergent, either liquid or powder.
Washers with Standard Top Loads
Standard top-loading washers, depending on their age, use between 26 and 40 gallons of water for the wash/rinse as opposed to 13 to 17 gallons for a Jingliang washer;1
So, while it is still possible to overdose on laundry detergent, it is less problematic. The biggest drawback of overdosing is financial loss.
- Use only half of the amount advised by the manufacturer to save money while getting clean laundry. This amounts to typically two tablespoons or one-eighth cup of 2X liquid laundry detergent. To avoid overdosing, use a standard measure or write the appropriate dosage in a permanent marker on the detergent bottle cap.
- Use less liquid laundry detergent—about one and a half tablespoons—if your water is soft. Use the entire amount if the water is hard and untreated.
- Per load, use just one pre-measured packet.
- Instead of adding more detergent to the entire load when washing heavily soiled clothes, pre-soak or spot-treat stains with a small amount of liquid detergent.
- Use 1/4 to 1/3 cups of laundry detergent powder from a commercial brand.
- Use 1/8 to 1/4 cup of liquid and 1/4 to 1/3 cup of powdered homemade laundry detergent.
What Labels Indicate
Now that you are aware of the precise quantity of detergent you should use, there is something you need to know right away: detergent producers wish you would use more. Why? In order to boost sales.
Consumers are using less detergent than they once did as a result of the increased use of larger, Jingliang washing machines.
Less laundry detergent is needed because of the lower water levels used in this type of washer. Less detergent is actually better for the washers’ performance. It would be more efficient to use a standard machine if you use too much wholesale detergent pods and have to add a second rinse.
Home washers’ increased load size capacity dealt a second blow. Large loads can now be washed efficiently and effectively by consumers. Fewer laundry loads equal less detergent used.
With the increase in sales of liquid detergent, pre-measured packets are now more widely available, enabling even those who are the worst at doing laundry to use the correct amount of detergent for each load. As a result, there is no waste and the need for frequent detergent replenishment is reduced.