Wednesday, October 20, 2010

The Last Drop

Dear Readers,

Anyone have any effective way of totally emptying a liquid laundry detergent bottle?  Today I had to throw in a load of laundry, and I didn't have much detergent left in the bottle.  Yet, even when it looked like the bottle was empty because nothing else was pouring out, I could still see a fair amount of detergent in the bottle.  With enough shaking, I went from having almost no detergent for my load, to basically having a load's worth of detergent.

What gives?  Do I have to cut the bottle open to get the rest of the detergent out?  Or do I simply switch to powder?

Advice appreciated!
Your pal,
Jill

5 comments:

  1. I simply add a bit of the water (maybe 1/2 - 3/4 cup - I never measure) from the running washer to the bottle, close the lid up tight, shake, shake, shake, open up and pour it into the machine. That usually get 99.9% of it out!

    Easy peasy!

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  2. Do you have a top loader? I have a front loader. Once you start it, the door locks, and on top of that, the detergent goes in a special drawer. I'd be a little reluctant to use the water method, since the machine doesn't use much water in the first place. Anybody have any thoughts on that?

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  3. Hmm. Yeah, I have a top loader. I don't know about those new-fangled front loaders. I mean, those seals HAVE to give out at some point, right? And then there's water everywhere. Ugh.

    Have any thoughts on dryers? Mine died and has to be replaced. I hate buying appliances. It's so not any fun!

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  4. I always turn the bottle upside down (cap on, of course) and leave it that way until the next time I do laundry; then all the detergent can run down into the cap. Usually that will give you a nice capful for a load or two, but it can get messy if there was more in the bottle than you thought, and it overflows the cap when you open it. (BTW, open it in its upside-down position so the soap doesn't run back down into the bottle). Prop the bottle up with something if it won't stay balanced on the cap by itself.

    A handy tip from my mom!

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  5. Thanks, madgal! I will try that!

    Heather--they're expensive, but I LOVE my front loaders! They're supposed to save on water, but since I still rent and don't have to worry about water much, I don't know how true that is. What I do know is that the capacity is fantastic--I think I do about 3-4 loads a week, as opposed to the 7-8 I did with a top loader (the Boy is tall; his clothes take up a lot of room in a machine).

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