Cutting your detergent bills for a fully auto washing machine

Fully auto washing machines give us the ease of sitting back and relax once the wash process is started. However, at the same time they eat up more water and detergent compared to semi-auto machines. But do you know that you can save both water and soap in your fully auto machine?

Most, if not all, machines come with a water-reuse feature. I have Whirlpool WM123 NXT 622D Automatic 6.2 kg Washer Dryer and started using this feature few days back (courtsey my mom). I must say that it works wonders with the laundry. In addition to water and soap saving, the big bonus is laundry coming out cleaner. I highly recommend using this feature when you have different types of laundry (white, coloured, sophisticated, rough, etc.)

How I wash clothes

  1. I put all my white/light coloured clothes in the machine and select 'Wash' and 'Water Reuse' in the Wash options. The water level is selected to 'Very Low' as I have only 1 bucket of load. I put enough detergent to make rich lather. The 'Water Reuse' feature will make sure that the machine buzzes to off when the soap cycle is finished and the soapy water becomes available to use for the next round of clothes.

  2. I take out all these clothes from the machine (with just a little squeezing)

  3. I now put all other coloured clothes (which might bleed colours) in the machine and again select 'Wash' and 'Water Reuse' in the Wash options.

  4. With the last round of clothes still in the machine, I select 'Rinse' and 'Spin' in the Wash options and water level to 'Low'.

  5. When the dirty soapy water drains off (which takes 1 min.), I pause the machine and put all the previous round's clothes. This way all the clothes get rinsed and spinned together.

  6. That's it. Check your white clothes : they will come out of the machine as shiny new and check your detergent bill : it will be slashed to half!!

Category: finance