I’m Saying NO To Big Jugs

The jugs.

They are part of us from a very early age. Our mothers show us how, when and where to use them (and not use them).

My jugs have been with me through thick and thin – through the college days, early motherhood and beyond. I remember when I was a young gal. My jugs were not that big back then. Of course, that was the 1980s.

When I had Boy Wonder, my jugs seemingly exploded. They became so huge it was almost shocking.

I’ve gotten used to them, these jugs of mine. And the thought of smaller jugs? Well, it just doesn’t even occur to me anymore. I’d venture to say that if you asked most women, they wouldn’t say they want smaller jugs.

Not surprisingly, my husband prefers big jugs. He always tells me that he loves me no matter what. But he still encourages me to have bigger jugs. Bigger must be better has always been his philosophy.

There have been a few times that I’ve joked about getting rid of the big jugs. He doesn’t find that funny.

Why?

Well, everywhere you look, big jugs are practically hitting you in the face. The pharmacy. The local grocery store. And Wal-Mart and Costco? It’s like a Big Jug Festival in those two places. You’d feel like an outcast with smaller jugs. Or worse yet, no jugs.

But I’ve been doing a little bit of reading.

And I’m shocked at what I’ve learned.

It costs a lot of money to keep ourselves outfitted with big jugs. Think about the energy, resources and materials we use every day just to make our jugs big and looking all pretty. Because what’s the sense of having big jugs if they’re not wrapped up in a nice package, right?

And when we want to get rid of our big jugs…well, there’s more time, more resources, and more energy being used.

Big jugs of laundry detergent are filling up our landfills and wasting our precious resources, people. For no.good.reason.

Back in March, when I chillaxed with the folks from method, I learned a bit about  laundry.

In 2003, the formulation in a Jug O’Laundry Detergent was 50% water. It makes me ill to think about paying $10 or $15 for a large, planet-unfriendly jug of cleaner that was mostly WATER .

I think it made the method people a little ill, too, because they came up with an idea that was simple and brilliant:

Take the water out, concentrate the detergent AND use a smaller bottle that’s nicer for the Earth.

That one idea? Took 45,000 tons of plastic out of our waste stream. It saved 200M gallons of water and 3 million gallons of gas.

But guess what? People are still overdosing their loads of laundry in a big way. It’s bad for clothes, it’s bad for washing machines and it’s bad for the environment.

So the method Laundry Geniuses went back to their secret squirrel lab and came up with a NEW simple and brilliant idea: concentrate the detergent more, and dispense it with a pump. {Why didn’t I think of that?}

Four pumps is all you need to clean a load of wash. Also? Pumps don’t drip everywhere like those awkward cups. And method stuff smells wicked good.

Great! you’re saying. BUT WILL IT CLEAN MY CLOTHES, KludgyMom?

Yes. It cleans fabulously. It’s so good you don’t need to buy a separate pre-treater.

True: Boy Wonder dripped melted butter all over a T-shirt last week while we were out a restaurant. When we got home hours later, I squirted a little method on the stain, washed it the next day, and voila – stains gone.

If method can get boy stains out, is there really any better endorsement?

But don’t believe Greasy Boy Wonder and me. Try it for yourself.

I was giving away a bunch of method laundry starter kits, but they’re been all snapped up. So instead, go get coupons every Thursday in May for $2 off at method’s Facebook page.

Or, head to their Facebook page and enter their photo contest. They’re giving away a year of laundry detergent and some more starter kits, too.

In the meantime, you have to watch the video below. It will make you smile.
I gotta say, I’m getting used to having no jugs. And I kinda like it.

disclosure:  I was compensated for this post as part of the method mavens program. I asked the fine folks at method to do my laundry for the next 11 years instead, but they said no. All opinions about the fabulosity of method are entirely my own.

Tagged as: #cleanhappy