Somewhere along the road of life we learned that the way to clean items is to soap them up. This applies to both our use of dishwashing and washing machine detergents. The logic goes something like this: The more we add, the cleaner the results. WRONG.

Now our world has been turned upside down. First with dishwasher soap. It was not that long ago that the reports came out saying it is possible to add too much. We are actually better off adding less and running the unit on a regular cycle rather than many of the quick wash options so many of the new energy star machines tout. OK, we got that one.

Then it was recently uncovered that we are adding too much detergent to our washing machines, and they cannot run effectively and clothes suffer. Wait, they’re not cleaner? Nope. They’re falling apart sooner and quickly lose their luster.

Is this not all counter intuitive? Add soap; get clean results. Yes, but not with a heavy hand.

Maybe the culprit in the washing machine part of the experiment is the new lineup of heavy duty soaps: 2X and even 3X as strong. Most people seem unable to lessen their detergent amount even though the product clearly states its double strength properties. We seem to ignore the lines on the caps that indicate how much we should add and often add what we did before the 2X universe. Those are not suggestions, but guidelines that came about after testing loads of wash!

The Method folks have a solution-no capfuls but a spray-on pump. Check it out with one of the site’s coupons, and you be the judge.

What’s the solution: Simple enough mathematics: Decrease detergent amount; increase cleanliness.

Yes, counter-intuitive, but effective.