Laundry is just a fact of life. It is one of those renewable chores that sometimes makes you feel as if you were given a test from the heavens above, since it never seems to be completed, no matter how you try. You can get all of your wash done for the day, only to be confronted by more as soon as someone comes home and changes their clothes.
Since it is a task that has to be done over and over again, it makes sense to take a look at how you do your laundry in order to save a bit in your budget. Adopting a new money saving practice will continue to save you money each time you do a load. Let’s say you save only 46 cents on a single load with minimum effort. If you do ten loads a week, as I usually do, that is enough for a magazine, a fancy coffee, two school lunches, a couple of outfits at a garage sale, etc. Personally, I’d go for the outfits since they have the most value, although of course the outfits will have to be added to the laundry.
Here is a round up of some different ways that you can easily save on your laundry. practice more than one, and chances are that at the end of the year, you’ll be feeling a bit more financially comfortable.
- Use half the recommended laundry detergent. Select the automatic soak setting or stop your machine for a manual soak if you have stubborn stains
- Make your own laundry detergent
- Give your laundry an extra spin in the washer to reduce the drying time
- Hang your laundry outside or inside
- Tear your dryer sheets in half, make your own fabric softener or do without
- Wear some clothing items more than once before washing them
- Wash your laundry in cold water
- Fill your washer to capacity. It uses the same amount of energy (although not water) to wash a large load as it does a small load.
- Consider hand washing some items and then hanging them to dry
- If you use your dryer, dry loads consecutively before the dryer has a change to cool back down.
Click here for more articles by Mary Ann Romans.
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