Hard water is a hassle for any family in a high-mineral area. Constantly scrubbing residue off your tub, having to re-wash laundry, and the dry skin alone are enough to make anyone frustrated. The water running out of your tap should be clear and safe for both drinking and washing but hard water is notorious for making home life more difficult. It can even damage your health by preventing soap from lathering properly and clogging your pores with minerals, causing acne and chronically dry skin.
You might think of hard water as nothing more than a regional nuisance, but what many households don’t realize is how much it costs to constantly battle the negative effects of hard water. Today, we’re here to take a close look at how hard water is affecting your household budget and where you will discover savings after the simple installation of a home water softening unit.
1) You Need Less Soap Everywhere
When you are washing with hard water, the minerals suspended in the water actually prevent our soap from lathering properly. Unfortunately, soapy lather is what’s necessary to break up dirt and grime when cleaning everything from counters to laundry. Households with hard water have to use extra soap to get the same effect because the soap is unable to sufficiently lather.
After switching to soft water, many households are amazed at just how little soap it takes to wash things to sparkling clean or pristinely soft. After the switch, you’ll find that you can cut back on soap use and that your monthly laundry soap, surface cleaner, and body wash costs will decrease significantly.
2) Ditch the Fabric Softener
Hard water has a particularly negative effect on your laundry. Not only does it prevent laundry soap from lathering to clear away the dirt and oils, but the minerals actually get into the fabric weave. This causes your laundry to become stiff and scratchy. The solution most families turn to is fabric softener, and lots of it. This can at least help keep your clothes softer, though the minerals will still be causing problems.
After installing a water softening unit, the water in your washer will finally be free of minerals and the first few washes will clear your clothes of residual stiffness. After this, you can ditch the fabric softener (and its costs) entirely or only add a small amount based on your preferences.
3) Save on Cosmetic Blemish Treatments
Hard water also has a nasty habit of drying out your skin and causing acne by clogging your pores with tiny mineral particles. If your skin has been reacting badly to hard water, you may be spending a portion of your monthly budget on moisturizers and costly cosmetic blemish treatments just to keep your skin healthy and presentable.
With soft water, you can kiss those pointless blemishes goodbye, along with the costs of your regular blemish treatments. Your regular body wash and facial cleanser should be more than enough to keep your skin healthy without the damaging effects of hard minerals in your water.
4) Healthier Garden Plants
If you love to garden, you may have also noticed the negative affects of hard water on your precious plants. Whether you water houseplants or have a lovely outdoor gardening space, hard water minerals can coat the leaves and roots of your plants, preventing them from efficiently absorbing the nutrients they need.
After switching to a water softening unit, your plants will begin to thrive again without the use of expensive plant foods and soil mixtures that combat the heavy minerals.
5) Slower Household Sponge Death
Finally, there’s the sponge tax. When you live in a house with hard water, you are constantly scrubbing away ‘scale’, that flaky gray-white residue that is left behind when water dries on your sinks, tubs, and fixtures. Not only is scale a pain to scrub up, it also builds up on your sponges and eventually renders them useless.
With soft water flowing through your taps, your household need for new sponges will drop significantly, and so will that ache in your back and shoulders from constantly scrubbing.
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Installing a water softening unit is an investment that pays itself back time and time again. In dish and laundry soap, fabric softener, skin cleanser, and scrubby sponges, you’ll soon come to realize just how much hard water was costing your monthly household budget. For more information about how a water softening unit can improve your home life from skin health to grocery costs, contact us today!
