Dear Jill: Could you help me determine what the best price for laundry detergent is? I like to use the single load ‘packs’ of detergent but suspect I am overpaying for the convenience. (How much, I am not sure.) I would appreciate guidelines for this, as we do many loads of laundry per week. — Patrick G.
Whenever I’m purchasing products that come in multiple sizes, I always try to figure out the best value per ounce or individual unit. Laundry detergent is a product that’s relatively easy to compare pricing on.
While the guidelines I’m about to share are not always true 100 percent of the time, they’re good rules of thumb to keep in mind to save money.
First, liquid laundry detergent is typically the least expensive form to buy. Individual-dose packs are typically the most expensive to use per load. They’re convenient to use, but as with many conveniences, it comes at a price.
Let’s look at a recent sale at a major chain drugstore on name-brand laundry detergent. A 64-load, 100-ounce bottle was on sale for $11.94, and the 21-count individual packs of the same detergent brand also were on sale for $11.94. Before we even bring coupons or promotions into the picture, the store’s advertisement tells us we can buy 64 liquid loads for the price of 21 single-load packs. This works out to about .19 per liquid load to about .57 per pack load – an enormous difference.
My goal as a coupon shopper is to get my laundry load prices, in any form, less than .10 per load. During the above sale, the pharmacy had a $3 coupon for the detergent in their app and a $2.50 reward for purchasing. That dropped the bottle to $6.44, or about .10 per load, and the single-load packs worked out to .30 per load with the same deal.
As is often true with coupons, sometimes buying the smaller size is also a better deal. A coupon often can take a bigger “bite” out of the smaller item’s price, resulting in a lower unit cost over the larger bottle. At the same store, a 22-load bottle and 12-count of single-load packs of the same name-brand detergent were both on sale for $2.94. A $1 coupon for these smaller sizes dropped both packages to $1.94, making each liquid laundry load just .08, and the single-load packs worked out to .16.
I understand not everyone has a washer and dryer at home. If you’re carrying laundry to a shared laundry room or Laundromat, it’s definitely more convenient to toss a detergent pack into the load so you don’t have to carry a bottle along with you. Just keep in mind you often are paying at least twice the per-load price for this convenience.
(A note about powdered laundry detergent: Powders still are being manufactured, but the popularity of liquids and packs means stores are devoting less shelf space to powders. In turn, many of the laundry detergent coupons available also exclude powdered forms. I am a fan of powdered detergent, especially for washing whites, but I’ve found better deals on it at ethnic grocery stores and even hardware stores and home centers. Pricewise, powdered detergents’ per-load prices tend to fall between liquids and packs.)
Another tip I can share for saving on laundry detergent is not to be too brand-specific. Don’t be afraid to try different brands if the price is right. The shelf in my laundry room resembles a cocktail bar of various colors, sizes and brands of laundry detergent. While we all have our favorite brands, don’t be afraid to try something different if the price is right. I delegate my premium-brand detergents to washing dark colors or heavily-stained items. Bargain-brand detergents often clean well but might not contain all of the fabric conditioners.
The Link LonkMarch 18, 2021 at 09:20PM
https://www.daily-journal.com/life/home_garden/pay-attention-to-per-load-pricing-for-laundry-detergent/article_a6d07548-8599-11eb-a709-9b78313f5c4a.html
Pay attention to per-load pricing for laundry detergent - Kankakee Daily Journal
https://news.google.com/search?q=Laundry&hl=en-US&gl=US&ceid=US:en
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