Bradley Valentin 
Doing laundry can be a task that is annoying and costly. While you may or may not dread doing laundry, it doesn’t have to be costly. We will go over some tips and product recommendations for doing laundry on a budget.
Budget Laundry Tips
Use Less Detergent!
This is an important one, because many people see the large size of laundry caps and fill the caps halfway or even near the top. However, many recommendations show that most laundry loads need 1-2 tablespoons. That’s 1/2-1 ounces… See the picture below to see how little laundry detergent you need. For larger loads, you might need to go up to 3 or 4 tablespoons, but most don’t won’t need that much detergent.
This usually means filling the line on a standard laundry measuring cap to about 1-2 lines, MAX. Unless your laundry is extra dirty or the loads are very large, using more detergent will not help get them cleaner. In fact, they may cause dirt to stick to the fabric and may cause buildup in your washer and on your clothes.
If you live somewhere with hard water, you might have to use a little more detergent or add laundry boosters like Borax or Arm & Hammer Washing Soda.
Believe it or not, you rarely need more detergent than the image above.
Avoid Viral Laundry Hacks/DIY Laundry Detergent
Many laundry hacks or DIY laundry detergent recipes are appealing because they give people a sense of control over the costs and ingredients they use/buy. However, a few things are important to consider with laundry detergents and DIY hacks.
- Name-brand detergent is rarely as “toxic” as it’s made out to be. If you have skin sensitivities, just use something like Tide Free & Gentle, which is gentle and safe for sensitive skin with no fragrance.
- DIY recipes are usually cheap because they lack surfactants, AKA soap! Without soap, laundry detergent is useless, as are many laundry detergent hacks.
- DIY recipes rarely outperform cheap laundry detergents.
- You have to buy in bulk, and once all the costs are added together (with proper substances) the costs are the same or greater than just buying a free & clear alternative.
- Most quality laundry detergents are very cheap if you follow the first tip (use less detergent!).
Cold Water Works Fine In Newer Appliances and Detergents
Obviously, hot water cleans better, pretty much always. But modern-day appliances are made to work well in cold water. Many liquid detergents like Tide, Persil, or Gain all work well in cold water. If you use powdered detergent, you might need to use warmer water, but consider switching to liquid detergent for the best efficiency.
Use a Good Laundry Detergent
You don’t have to use very expensive laundry detergents, but basic detergents like Tide or Persil can be very cheap and effective. Tide is usually one of the best performing laundry detergents, and you can do a standard load of laundry with Tide for $.16 or less!
Avoid plant-based laundry detergents if you’re looking for something sustainable and with few chemicals. These rarely work well, and you might have to use more detergent, clean multiple times, and they’re often more expensive. Again, if you have skin sensitivities, Tide Free & Gentle is an amazing, cheap, sensitive option, with some of the best cleaning power possible.
Avoid very cheap options like All. You may be able to find these dirt cheap, but they don’t clean well, and you will end up using more to clean properly. We will review four different detergents below, all reasonably priced, that clean well.
Use Detergent as a Stain Remover
Many detergents have enough surfactants or enzymes in them that you don’t need to buy additional products. Instead, you can pretreat your clothes with a small amount of detergent to remove stains. Use a small amount of detergent, and put it directly onto the stains, and let it sit for a few hours before washing. You’ll be surprised how well this works.
Alternatively, you can also use Dawn dish soap to help get out some stains, especially food/grease stains. The same rules apply here: apply a small amount of Dawn on the stain and let it sit for a few hours before washing. There’s rarely a need to buy stain removers if you can’t afford them.
Laundry Detergent Reviews
There are so many different options when it comes to laundry detergent, but buying detergent on a budget doesn’t have to be difficult. Most major brands that you can find at the store work well and are cheap. We will review the prices and effectiveness of these four detergents below: Gain, Persil, Tide Free & Gentle, Tide Original.
Best Cleaning Performance
This goes to Tide Original. The latest Tide formula is ultra-concentrated, and you rarely need as much as you think. It’s very cheap, coming in around $0.16/load. If you’re looking to do laundry on a budget, but you’re not worried about fragrances or paying (literally) a few pennies more per load, then Tide is your best bet.
Best Budget
Gain wins here. Gain is not as effective, and rarely will win any battles against Tide, but if your goal is budget over performance, Gain is a great option. If you have heavily soiled clothes, you can add some boosters to help the performance, but the costs might mean you should just upgrade to Tide anyway. But if your clothes are rarely heavily soiled, Gain is the cheapest option.
Best Sensitive/Fragrance-Free Option
If you have skin sensitivities to laundry detergents or don’t like fragrances, try Tide Free & Gentle. It’s just barely cheaper than Tide Original. Additionally, you can try Tide Free & Gentle Odor Refresh if you have stinky or very dirty clothes. It’s a few pennies more per load (about $0.18), but it’s a great option if you prefer scent-free/skin-sensitive detergents.
Strong Alternative
Persil is a cheap and strong alternative to Tide, and it works a little better than Gain. If you prefer to save some money, but want a little better performance than Gain, Persil works quite well and has very high reviews for many professionals.
Detergent Pricing
Below is a chart with the four detergents reviewed and their prices at major retailers. All of the prices are based on the retailer’s base price, not sale prices, meaning there is still room for savings!
*Pods only
**Not including cost of Pods
Gain is the cheapest of the four detergents, and you can get it for about $0.10/load at Walmart. Very few generic/budget detergents will work as well as Gain or be any cheaper. If you have a membership to Costco or Sam’s Club, you can find most of these detergents for a low price (though Costco is more expensive than the rest). Walmart and Target are strong options if you don’t have a club card, and Amazon also offers low prices if you search for the right size.
Final Thoughts
Doing laundry doesn’t have to be expensive or complicated. Most people should probably use something like Tide Original, and this will not be a compromise over more expensive detergents (in fact, it performs better than almost all of them). Thanks to thecleanclub.com for reviews on all things laundry!
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