A question most households rarely ask, but one that can have a significant impact on your annual savings, your clothes, and the environment. After reading this article, you may never have to shop the laundry aisle again.

According to Procter & Gamble the average American family washes about 300 – 390 loads of laundry per year. That's about every other day.

With this in mind, we were curious to see how much the annual cost of two leading detergent brands - Tide & Seventh Generation - stack up against against the annual cost of this brilliant new product that just hit the market called the Washzilla Laundry Ball.

Tide’s largest and longest-lasting jug of liquid detergent (image above) claims to allow up to 96 loads. This 150-ounce jug is priced at .21 cents per ounce. The price for this jug is $31.50.

Although Tide might claim their 150 oz. jug of detergent washes 96 loads, based on past experiences, we believe this jug (for the average consumer) really only lasts about half of those loads because we would find ourselves constantly shopping for detergent every 3-4 weeks with a family of 5. 

Most times we would need to apply double the dose for heavily soiled items (such as kids’ clothes) because the detergent simply wouldn’t work well enough with the recommended amount. In addition to this, based on a consumer research poll, we found that consumers spend an average of $15-25 each month on detergent.

Now let’s look at a greener option, Seventh Generation’s Liquid Laundry 2x Ultra Concentrate 150 oz. bottle which claims to allow up to 99 loads at an average price of about .13 cents /oz. or about $20.00. We will also estimate that in reality, for some families, it may only allow up to 30 loads.

This means that Seventh Generation’s largest and longest-lasting jug is consumed about 4-12 times per year (or more) which sums up to about $80.00 – $240.00 per year or more.

The Washzilla's laundry ball works at its maximum power for about 1,000 washes at a price of $39.95.

According to American’s average washer, this means that Washzilla's laundry ball will only need to be purchased about once every two and a half years.

WashZilla is a recent invention from Japan. In a national effort to conserve resources, a Japanese inventor stumbled onto something pretty amazing - a way to clean clothes better, make them last longer, and use 40% less water and electricity when cleaning using absolutely NO chemicals. Based on a breakthrough in bioceramic technology, Washzilla has sold over 120,000 units and is slowly taking over the world of laundry - because it actually works.

In a nutshell, each WashZilla sphere contains hundreds of tiny ceramic pellets, which activate the water to provide superior cleaning power. Something detergents can only achieve by adding chemicals. Simply add the WashZilla sphere to the washing machine along with dirty laundry. Run the washing machine as usual, and marvel as clothes come out spotlessly clean, fresh, and without any odor.

WashZilla is entirely free of harsh chemicals, and it’s reusable for up to 1000 washes. That’s is good for the environment — and the wallet.

When comparing these two popular detergents to the Washzilla laundry ball, you also have to consider the other significant cost factors Washzilla does NOT incur, such as the cost of water used to run a rinse cycle (because it produces no suds or residues it requires no rinse) and the electricity consumed to occasionally wash with hot water when using conventional detergents (Washzilla cleans all fabrics thoroughly only using cold water). Let’s take a look at the comparison below.

Each wash cycle requires about 20 – 40 gallons of water. Roughly half of the water is used for the wash cycle and half for the rinse cycle. If you use top-loaders, you should know that front-loading washers use 40-75% less water and 30-85% less energy.

Top-loading washers: Use about 20 gallons for rinse cycles.

Front-loading washers: Use about 8-15 gallons for rinse cycles.

Without suds or chemicals to rinse off, the Washzilla Laundry Ball does NOT require a rinse cycle . That’s right, you can skip it entirely!

With top loaders, Washzilla saves about 6,000 – 7,800 gallons of water per year. The average cost of water utilities in the U.S is about $5.50 per 1000 gallons. This means you can save from $33.00-$44.00+ per year only on rinse cycles!

With front-loaders, this saves anywhere from 2,400 – 5,850 gallons of water.

Think about it. This is an estimate for just one person or household. Imagine how beneficial it would be for our planet, if rinse cycles were totally eliminated from the laundry process.

To heat water, a whopping 90% of the energy used by washing clothes often goes just to heat the water! Below is a chart indicating the prices per load and year with varied temperature settings on a top loader.

As seen in the chart above, with a top loader, using cold water with the Washzilla laundry ball can save up to 68 cents per load (68 cents for hot water load minus 4 cents for cold load) or $249 per year in comparison to washing only with hot water.

With front loaders, using cold water with the Washzilla laundry ball can save up to 21-57 cents per load, or about $175-210 per year in comparison to washing only with hot water.

Of course, most people don’t only wash their laundry with hot water throughout the year, however, if most people run hot wash cycles, for instance, just 1/3 of the time they wash their laundry (one third of of 300-390 washes per year), you are still saving about $83.00 per year with top loaders and $58-70.00 per year (front loaders) with Washzilla...on energy alone!

If you’ve gotten this far, have you realized that the savings you can make with water & electricity alone will pay for the laundry ball itself?

So your closet is becoming a spectrum of fading colors. A shirt that was once red is now this pale maroon. Black tights are now a dark gray. Many people have a significant investment in their wardrobe and once their clothes have faded or worn out, they lose their value and are often discarded. 

It is no question that Tide and other leading conventional detergent cause fading and deterioration in fabrics, some in shorter time than others. But to our surprise, according to one of the product reviews on Seventh Generation’s website, their eco-friendlier solution fades dark clothing even more than other detergents!

The Washzilla laundry ball is chemical-free and its physical properties help maintain the life and color of fabrics.

So wait..my expensive wardrobe doesn’t need to fade and wear out to be kept clean? Nope!

Think about the moment you realize you’re out of detergent. Bummer. Your next thought is you need to go to the store to buy more. Then shortly after that you think of the money you need to dish out for it. You get in your car and drive to the store to find yourself in the smelly detergent aisle making your decision to buy an expensive gallon of ultra concentrated detergent smelling of “clean breeze”. 

You wait about 5-10 minutes in line thinking about the load of clothes waiting for you and how fast you want to get it done. You finally get home with your heavy jug of Tide and continue your sorting duties. You break through the seal, and carefully measure the right amount into the cap, hoping it won’t spill and cause a sticky mess around you, to then pour these toxic chemicals into the washer with your laundry. You repeat this several times over and over until you reach the last drop of detergent in that jug. You do it all over again in a few weeks.

As noted earlier, using Washzilla requires only ONE purchase every 2.5 years, and that’s if you’re actually washing 300-400 loads per year. Although it is difficult to calculate the cost of time and gas required to purchase detergent, it is clear that Washzilla takes a fraction of that time. 

The cost of gas required to purchase detergents obviously depends on how far a person lives from the convenience store, so that calculation must be measured on your own if you’re up for the task 🙂 However, the quick purchase of a laundry ball after your 1000th wash is much more convenient, sustainable and frugal than taking a trip to the detergent aisle once every few weeks. Not to mention the time saved with the ease of using the laundry ball.

Static cling? Wrinkled clothes? Some of the chemicals used in both conventional and alternative detergents often call for additional products such as fabric softeners, dryer sheets or bleach. Even Seventh Generation has their line of extra products such as these. This is because one chemical has a certain effect on fabric and another is needed to disguise it if it turns out unsuitable for your garments. Or simply because the detergent doesn’t get the job done efficiently in different conditions of tap water (soft / hard).

Using no chemicals, Washzilla maintains fabrics and fibers like new, it removes any static cling entirely, and by expanding fibers it keeps them soft naturally. And by the way, if you’re looking for softness, you can add a cup of white vinegar to your washes. It is a much cheaper, safer and greener alternative to fabric softener – and just as effective. You don’t need to worry about the smell of vinegar as it completely goes away after the wash.

Yes! Here’s some more saving facts:

Bleach (96 fl oz) (16 loads) = $180 – $300 per year if you purchase 1 per month.

Bounce Dryer sheets (120 sheets / loads) =  $30-$50 per year if you purchase 1 per month.

Fabric Softener (40 loads) =  $75.00-$100 per year if you purchase 1 per month.

So why are we using toxic, expensive fabric softeners again?

And this amount doesn’t include your wardrobe’s lifespan, gas costs incurred by frequent grocery store visits to re-up and possible implications these products may bring to your health or your family’s.