Saturday, May 16, 2009

Rain Soft

I entered a drawing to win a stove and refrigerator at Home Depot and was contacted by people from Rain Soft. If I agreed to let them come over and test my water, I'd receive a $20 Home Depot gift card. Sweet. 

The Rain Soft guy arrived at 5 pm on Friday. As he was setting up, I mentioned that we had to leave for dinner in 45 min. Apparently his presentation was going to take, at the minimum, one hour. Really? About water softeners?

Anyway, I started asking him some questions because I was genuinely curious about water softeners. Their company does a cost analysis for you on what you are spending on soaps, cleaners, etc for hard water. They say that they can actually save you money if you buy their water softener system because it comes with enough soaps, detergents, cleaners, etc for a year. 

The interesting part about their soaps, at least for me, is that none of them are free and clear and they are heavily scented with peach. Yuck. The guy asked what kind of laundry detergent I use and I said that I make my own. Then he said that we'd save on dishwasher detergent. I make my own, although not for long because the chemical-laden stuff I usually buy works a lot better. He said the cleaners would replace things like Windex. I use vinegar. And shampoo. Right. Except I don't use that either.

He finally laughed and said that he'd never met anyone as "dedicated to my lifestyle" as me. He admitted that having a water softener would definitely add costs for us, but that we'd have a lot of soaps and cleaners to give away as Christmas presents. He left his card and number in the event we want to hear his entire presentation. And do you think my honesty was rewarded with a $20 Home Depot gift card? Heck no.

Seriously, though, I never thought about being dedicated to a lifestyle. I think of myself more as being a cheap, multi-tasking, label-reader. Why pay $2 for a smallish bottle of Windex when I can buy a huge jug of vinegar for $2.50? Vinegar disinfects, washes windows, softens my clothes and does just about everything except put itself into the squirt bottle. I don't like all of the nasty chemicals in most products so I try to avoid them whenever possible. It's simple, really. 

4 comments:

Stacy said...

I have to say that I am a big fan of vinegar as well. I also use baking sode and borax quite a bit. I have such sensative skin on my hands, that I can't handle all of the chemicals in most cleaning products and soaps. I do want to make my own detergent....any suggestions for a recipe?

Heather said...

The recipe for laundry detergent I use can be found here:

http://www.thefamilyhomestead.com/laundrysoap.htm

The only difference is the I grate a full bar of Dr. Bronner's soap instead of using Ivory or Fels Naptha. I use the full recommended 1/2 cup for my front loading HE machine and don't have any sudsing issues. The only issue I'm having is that I really need to be on top of pre-treating stains or they don't come out.

Anonymous said...

Rainsoft sucks, just as a side note. We bought one of their insanely expensive unit, and still have their nasty soap in various places around the house, like the pitcher that holds our bedroom door open. And their folks are RUDE. You should still have gotten that gift card. If you are interested in a softener, get an on demand model, which rs's are not. Insane amounts of water. And electric.

Jen said...

This post cracked me up. He's never met anyone as dedicated to their lifestyle?!?!. Too Funny! It makes a lot of sense that you use what works best for you & if that means it's cheaper (vinegar) than name brands, all the more power to you! You certainly showed that Rain Soft guy! And, on a side note...I'm glad I didn't commit to hearing about Rain Soft when I also got a call from Home Depot - it doesn't sound like something I would ever use either.