For detergent Info only skip to third paragraph.
We needed a new washer for our apartment, I normally buy used for our other property and that's great, but this was for our walk up apartment so I needed delivery. I did a ton of research on BIFL machines, gentleness on clothes, program cycles and features, water efficiency, and settled on a Miele W1. I've already reproofed a LL Bean tent I got at a yardsale last year for $6, so that has helped offset some of the sticker shock, as I'll maybe get an extra 5 years out of the tent, that everything is cleaned much gentler all of my clothes are going to last longer saving a ton of money since I won't be replacing t-shirts as frequently and the handwash feature means I'll not be going to the drycleaner again except for wool suits [but maybe I'll try to wash one anyway and see how that goes]. Happiness for savings all around for years to come!
Edit: Another thing we were looking at was reducing energy, this model uses 116kw hours per year so about $15 per year for electricity, and this specific model only uses 10 gallons per cycle, the same as my old 1 cubic foot Haier top loader, so I'm cutting my water usage down by 75%, I think [math is hard].
DETERGENTS:
On to the most important thing I learned, and apologies if people actually knew this, but my mind was sort of blown. I was using too much detergent my whole life and chances are you are too. I would use the included measure cup with a bottle of tide, dump it in the machine, see suds and assume everything was all good. It turns out I was actually making my clothes worse by leaving detergent residue on my clothes since I was using far too much, like a 1/4 cup for light soil, up to 1/2 a cup if I thought the clothes were really dirty. It turns out modern HE detergents are not supposed to sud, so if you see any suddsing in the machine there is too much detergent.
A simple formula is 1/4-1/2 Tablespoon per each cubic foot of your washing tub. My washer has a 2.5 cubic foot tub so I am only using a single tablespoon per load, and 1.5 tablespoons for an extra dirty load.
Currently I have a 16 load bottle of gain [overpriced emergency purchase at the bodega for $4.99], which is 1.56 pints, this then converts into 51 tablespoons. Using the included measure cup the cost per load is $00.31, using the new formula of measuring laundry detergent the cost per load decreases to $00.10 per load. This means lifetime savings which will be even better with getting a reasonably priced bottle of detergent on sale and my clothes feel cleaner than they did before.
Using the proper amount of detergent will also increase the lifespan of your machine, as the same residue building up on your clothes is building up in the internals [pumps and hosing] inside and can cause premature failure of the machine.
I hope the deepdive I did when trying to select a machine helps you save money and happy laundering!
edit:spelling
May 30, 2019 at 03:48PM