Sarah Beeny has a genius hack for saving on washing detergent

Any one living in the south east of England will know first-hand the difficulty of dealing with hard water. Not only does it coat your washing machine and bathroom taps and shower in limescale, but you'll find yourself speeding through more detergent than your soft-water neighbours, all to clean the same amount.

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Presenter Sarah Beeny is no stranger to these dilemmas, with the hard water in her home even irritating her boys' skin. But earlier this month, the property expert shared her hack on Twitter for dealing with her home’s hard water problem.

Through a video posted on her feed, Sarah Beeny explains how a month ago she decided to have a water softener installed. ‘It’s been a month and skin irritations my boys were suffering from have improved! Also using much less detergent for washing up/laundry/ showering. You’ve got to keep it topped up with salt, but on balance, it’s not a big issue,’ the post reads.

The presenter had a water softener fitted in her home from Kinetico water systems. The device fits neatly in a kitchen cupboard, and will soften water as it comes into the home.

While the initial cost of the water softener might carry a hefty price tag, Sarah Beeny points out that the savings will be great in the long run. The most noticeable that Beeny points out being that the amount of washing up detergent she needs on a daily basis has been reduced.

Hard water simply doesn’t lather up in the same way as soft water does, due to the extra minerals in the water. This means that to get the same results from your washing machine you will need to use nearly 50 per cent more detergent with hard water than soft. In the long run you'll be halving your laundry costs.

The system will also help cut down on limescale, which not only means less time scrubbing the bathroom (hurrah!) but household appliances should last longer too. Since boilers, dishwashers and washing machines can become less efficient thanks to a build up of limescale, this means a saving both on energy use and on having to shell out to get your home appliances fixed more frequently.

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Cheaper energy and shopping bills all sound like a plus to us, so will you be following Sarah Beeny’s lead and having a water softener installed?