Saving on Detergents

Till few months ago I used only inexpensive detergents for laundry. I thought my clothes were clean and white clothes were still in pure white after few washes (became blind or what!). But they were not. I realized that these inexpensive detergents are not working for our family's dirty clothes. I had to take a stand and do something I had never done - buying an expensive, branded detergent.

I started watching detergent deals and coupon very closely. None of them came down below $4.5 and I never paid anything more than $1.5 for my detergent before that (ofcourse - store promotion with coupon).

After several tries, below are the ways I'm following to reduce the cost of laundry detergent while NOT paying so much for the detergent

Use Free Samples:
Even though it's very rare to find a high valued coupons for detergents, we come across a good number of laundry detergent free samples. By keenly watching these freebies we can get at least one free sample a month.

Write to the company:
Whenever I use a free sample of a company, I write a review about the product I used to the company. That way the company will know about it's products. Whether it's good or bad, I'll let them know my opinion. As a appreciation, most of them will send you a FREE coupon for their products.

Store promotion with coupons:

ALWAYS look for store promotions and combine it with the coupons from Sunday paper. Most of the time you'll end up paying less. (even though it's not an economical idea, it's better than buying at the last minute)

Mix-Match:

Even though my inexpensive detergent is not effective for all clothes, I use it for washing bathroom mat and other household clothes. In addition to that, we can mix it with the high quality detergent for regular clothes.

For example, I use half a cup of high quality detergent and half a cup of my inexpensive detergent for a load. This way my clothes are clean in fewer bucks. This works really well for me and the overall detergent cost is low per load.

Shop ahead:

I always make sure I have at least two cans of each detergent at home. When one can is over, I'll start looking for deals. I'm not a person who can shop at the last minute. I am simply not good at it. By buying ahead we are also saving money.

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