An often overlooked budget waster is hard water. Hard water often is not an obvious problem to people who have had no opportunity to compare it with soft water. It is usually difficult to see or taste any difference between hard and soft water. The differences between hard and soft water become obvious in bathing and cleaning chores. Hard water also leaves soap curd on laundry.
Hardness minerals affect laundry gradually.
Yet the waste is there, working away at the family budget. Fortunately, hard water can be softened, and soft water virtually eliminates these problems and their financial impacts. Hard water is found throughout the world and in about 85 percent of the United States, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. Hard water areas exist where water has access to rock that contains calcium, magnesium, or both. A typical aspirin contains about 5 grains of material.