Soft Water, Hard Water

Water is the most important part of cleaning... pretty much anything. Without water we don't get suds, we don't wash, we don't rinse and things don't get clean.

But water can also be a source of grief.

I once asked someone if they had hard water. They said they didn't know. That means it's probably soft. People with hard water know they have hard water. The evidence is everywhere: the calcium and lime build up around faucet heads, the rings in glasses and the toilet, the dingy, gray-looking clothes, the mass amounts of soap needed to get a good clean.

And for diapers you can start to get those same build-ups in clothes that effect absorbency, etc.

I grew up in hard water but had a short reprieve when I moved to Virginia where the water was nice and soft. My clothes and diapers came clean the first time with my Charlie's Soap and I didn't have a very difficult time with laundry or diaper care.

Then we moved.

Hello Iowa. Hello hard water!

My Charlie's Soap became inefficient.

So, I started the search for the perfect, hard water combination.

My first stop was to try the water softener additive Calgon. It certainly helped the laundering process but it was very expensive. The amount of water I was using to wash, plus the Calgon, plus the detergent was just getting too expensive of a combination.

I was willing to do it until my son started getting a little bit of a rash. Upon research I found that Calgon can be rash inducing on some babies.

I was getting a little discouraged.

Then a friend of mine gave me a tip.

She went out and bought a $6, 50 lbs bag or Morton's Water Softener salt pellets. She puts 6-10 pellets in each load of laundry and VIOLA, no Calgon, the bag lasts forever and clean laundry is her only result.

I figured it certainly wouldn't hurt to try. After all, it's only $6.

It's the greatest hard water tip I've ever gotten.

I also switched from Charlie's Soap to Planet Laundry Detergent and while I loved my Charlie's in soft water it just wasn't enough for the hard water conditions here.

It helps get the diapers (and our regular clothes) clean, clean, clean, without the dingy build up and with no rashes.