this post was submitted on 05 Jan 2024
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I saw this post and wanted to ask the opposite. What are some items that really aren't worth paying the expensive version for? Preferably more extreme or unexpected examples.

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[โ€“] idunnololz@lemmy.world 42 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (3 children)

Dish washer soap. Gotta rep technology connections for teaching me that not only is the powdered stuff cheaper, it's also just straight up better. Also store vs name brand shouldn't make a big difference either, at least not from my tests.

When I buy dishwasher soap now I just compare price per gram and grab the cheapest option.

[โ€“] ReluctantMuskrat@lemmy.world 7 points 10 months ago (4 children)

My wife started buying and using name brand pods for some reason and after about a year we started noticing a film build up on the glasses. Clear glasses made it very noticeable but it's not noticeable on solid color dishes. Finally occurred to me maybe it's the pods... we switched back to basic detergent and add rinse agent to the dispenser and now a year later new, identical glasses we bought still show no film.

Wish i could figure out how to get the existing film off our old glasses.

[โ€“] psud@lemmy.world 2 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

For the film covered glasses try lye. If that doesn't work try vinegar.

[โ€“] ReluctantMuskrat@lemmy.world 1 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Tried some strong vinegar but that didn't work. I'll have to see if I can find some lye and try that.

[โ€“] psud@lemmy.world 2 points 10 months ago

Drain-o is made of lye (sodium hydroxide)

[โ€“] indepndnt@lemmy.world 2 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (2 children)

I recently moved to a place with well water and figuring out how to get the dishes clean was a whole thing. For awhile I was sure we were gonna need a new dishwasher. There were wads of paper in various places in the machine, I'm guessing the previous owners didn't bother taking labels off before washing them, but that's not the point here. What ultimately worked for the mineral film was citric acid. There are citric acid dishwashing products, but you don't need to spend a ton of money, it's a common food additive and you can buy it super cheap. I got this: https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B000OZFECU?psc=1&ref=ppx_pop_mob_b_asin_title I just throw a spoonful in with the detergent once in awhile and the glasses come out sparkling!

[โ€“] akwd169@sh.itjust.works 2 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Citric acid is very common in food and widely available for purchase but it is not vitamin C.

Vitamin C is ascorbic acid.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vitamin_C

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citric_acid

[โ€“] indepndnt@lemmy.world 3 points 10 months ago

Oops my bad, thanks. I updated my comment to remove the misinformation.

[โ€“] Welt@lazysoci.al 1 points 10 months ago

Vitamin C is ascorbic acid, but otherwise agree

[โ€“] sxan@midwest.social 1 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Do you have a water softening system?

I learned recently that most major brands add water softeners to their detergents; this can make the water too soft, which can lead to filming and etching.

If you already have soft water, look for detergents without added softeners; I think the base, cheapest Finish is one, but check the ingredients.

[โ€“] ReluctantMuskrat@lemmy.world 1 points 10 months ago (1 children)

We do have a water softener. I might look into the pod/softener thing but we were using Cascade pods and now using Cascade detergent for the most part, though we also use Finish as well, depending what's on sale, etc.

Whatever the case I'm not going back to pods. I've kept some of the filmed glasses but can't find anything to get it off so they look awful.

[โ€“] sxan@midwest.social 1 points 10 months ago

If you can't get it off, it's probably etching, not a film. Etching (cloudiness) never comes off, we lost entire sets of glasses before we figured this out.

All Cascade detergents contain water softeners. It's not the pods; the powders have them too.

[โ€“] burrito@sh.itjust.works 2 points 10 months ago

Spot on here. I just get the cheapest Great Value powdered detergent and it works amazingly well.

[โ€“] probablynaked@lemmy.world 2 points 10 months ago

Powder gang represent

Also Technology Connections having me prewash and silently judge all the dishwasher pod users