18 ways for 18 days Update #2

As I was doing the laundry yesterday I noticed how imprecise I am with measuring laundry soap amounts. With many conventional laundry detergents you receive a measuring scoop in the packaging which simplifies things. With Dr. Bronner's I aim to use 1/8th of a cup (this is on the lower end of what they recommend) but I can't say I know if I'm really using that amount or not.

So that makes it a little bit hard to calculate the cost per load, doesn't it?

Laundry soap is funny because people are more intrigued by the number of loads it'll do than the price. It gets confusing like $10 for a 2 L bottle, but wait this one is $25 and it's 2x concentrated and HE and 99 loads. Okay, that's a lot of math in the Shoppers Drug Mart cleaning aisle...

So here's my math. I don't use Tide, etc, because I'm positive it's a bad choice for my family. So I'll compare Dr. Bronner's to some more "kind"/eco-friendly detergent: Seventh Generation.

Seventh Generation is often sold in a 150oz bottle for 25 bucks. It ends up being a quarter per load.

When used the way I do, if you buy in 1L bottles of Dr. Bronner's it's about 40 cents a load.


So when you compare apples to apples, yeah, it's a little pricer. But take this into account: when you buy Dr. Bronner's soap you're getting a product that can be used in limitless ways. If you realize your daughter has lice and you need to get rid of them quick: don't waste your money running out to get special shampoo - the Tea Tree castile soap is perfect. If your dog comes inside after being sprayed by a skunk - the lavender will be perfect. If you realize the condo that you're staying at in Florida doesn't have dish soap provided - not to worry there's a bottle of peppermint castile soap in your suitcase.

It's a huge money saver when you look at the big picture. I promise you, as a very frugal woman myself.

While we're on the subject of money, I do like to be upfront with my readers so I'll tell you this: although I always have a bottle or two (or nine) of Dr. Bronner's soap in my house, for this particular challenge the kind people who work there did send me some free bottles to help with the challenge. Thanks!