9: Let’s air that dirty washing…

This one is really short and simple, and will probably save you money at the same time.

In my continuing hunt for the unnecessary plastic items in my house, I realised that I had been buying laundry liquid in plastic bottles. I can’t remember when I switched from washing powder, but it was ages ago; no doubt because I had been convinced that it was somehow more practical or did the job better. Neither of those things are really true, especially with modern powders that you can even use at low temperatures, so the ads had me fooled. Those naughty tykes in the advertising industry are very clever!

Firstly, my washing is no cleaner using liquid than it is when I use powder. (I checked)
Secondly, powder is far more practical because I can never get that last little bit out of the plastic bottle but I can scoop every last bit of powder out of the box, so it lasts longer.
Thirdly, powder usually comes in a cardboard box, which I can then recycle easily.
Fourthly, washing powder (especially if it’s a supermarket own-brand) is much, much cheaper than laundry liquid so I actually save money.
Fifthly……I can’t actually think of another reason. I just wanted to type ‘fifthly’ because I’d never done it before.

So, I switched back to washing powder a few months ago, and my laundry is doing just fine. Next I need to find fabric conditioner that doesn’t come in plastic bottles. I shall post  on that after some more research.

Oh, and while we’re at it, don’t forget to buy wooden pegs instead of plastic ones the next time you need some. They last longer too!