Most people spend a good amount of money on things like laundry detergent, dishwasher soap, and other consumables. Saving money on them doesn’t have to mean switching brands or waiting for a sale—you can just use a lot less product and still get the same results, if not better. Here’s how much you actually need to get the job done.
Toothpaste
No matter what type of toothpaste you buy, there’s a good chance you’re using entirely too much. Dentists will tell you that a pea-sized dollop of toothpaste is enough for most adults, while kids need less than half that amount. If your toothbrush resembles a commercial—or the picture on the box—before you brush, you need to cut back.
This isn’t just about saving money. Using too much toothpaste can actually cause more harm than good, especially if it contains abrasive ingredients like baking soda. Over time, excessive toothpaste use and aggressive brushing will weaken your teeth’s enamel, causing increased sensitivity and tooth pain.
Laundry detergent
It’s a bit of a longstanding wisdom that most of us use entirely too much laundry detergent. And it’s not just a little extra—if you use a full cap for every load, you could be using 10 or 20 times more detergent than you need.
Using this much detergent is completely counterproductive. Washing machines use a lot less water than they used to, so any extra detergent you add won’t get fully rinsed out. If you make a habit of it, you’ll just coat your clothes (and your washing machine’s parts) in a layer of buildup that never really washes out. To avoid this, use as little detergent as you can. Start with half your usual amount and dial it back from there. You’ll be pleasantly surprised at what a mere tablespoon of detergent can do.
Dishwasher detergent
Dishwasher detergent is in the same boat as laundry detergent, except that using too much can seriously damage your dishwasher. A quick way to tell if you’ve been using too much is to check for soap deposits and buildup on the inside of the dishwasher door, near the detergent tray.
Most of us don’t think much about how much detergent we actually use—we just fill up the detergent tray and close it. But even on heavy wash settings, our dishes probably only need a fraction of the full detergent tray. Anything more will crust up the inside of the dishwasher, making it less effective overall and potentially damaging your dishes. It’s far more important to properly load your dishwasher and keep it clean than to use a ton of detergent.
Mouthwash
You might think it’s not possible to use “too much” of something that goes into your mouth, gets swished around, and then gets spit down the drain, but it is. If you take the cap off of your mouthwash and blindly fill it up to the top before tossing it back, you’re using way too much.
Most over-the-counter mouthwashes suggest using only about 20-30 milliliters (roughly 1-2 tablespoons) at once. That’s more than enough to get the job done. Besides, your mouth shouldn’t be completely full of mouthwash anyway—the act of swishing it around inside is part of what makes it effective; filling up your mouth diminishes its utility. To make measuring easier, choose a mouthwash brand that has a self-filling cap with a prominent fill line—they’re often marketed to children, but more manufacturers are including them on all of their bottles. Unlike toothpaste or detergents, there’s little harm in using more mouthwash than you really should (at least to a point), but the money you’ll save on those pricey bottles of the stuff by using less will be worth the change.
If you had no idea you were using too much of these products, it’s not really your fault—often their containers are designed to obfuscate how much is actually required for the job, or are just too big for the task at hand. After all, the makers of most of these products can’t make more money unless they either lure you to switch from another brand, decrease their container sizes to make you buy them more often, or trick you into using more than you could possibly need. If you want to save some cash at the supermarket (and keep your appliances—and your teeth—in good working order), keep an eye on how much of each it really takes to get the job done.
This article was originally published on February 27, 2014. It was updated on April 22, 2021 to reflect Lifehacker’s current style guidelines.