Pennies Pennies Everywhere! Saving Money on Laundry

There are quite a number of ways to save money doing laundry and if you do all of them, over the course of a long period of time, there is quite a bit of money to be saved!

We all do laundry differently based on our family size, time we have, where we do the laundry etc. I will be sharing a number of tips that have worked for me and I hope that readers will tweak these tips to their own way of doing! 

First of all, make sure you have a full load of laundry. If you do smaller loads, you will use water, electricity and time that you would save by doing the largest loads you can at one time. 

Secondly, unless your laundry is very dirty, use cold water. 

Thirdly, use less detergent. I usually buy detergent on sale, sometimes with coupons and in bulk. I like to use all unscented detergents and they are not always on sale as often as the other kinds which is why I buy a fair amount when I can get the unscented. If you are brand specific, you will not get as much on sale which is why I am not picky about the brand, I just want it to be unscented. I don't use a full cap like they recommend, I usually use 1/2 to a 1/4 of the recommended amount. If you want to be super thrifty, you can make your own detergent and there are plenty of recipes to do that online. 

Fourth, you can hang your clothes on a clothesline and save a lot in dryer use. I don't hang clothes on the line a lot for a couple of reasons: 1. Time and 2. Allergies. I love, love, love sheets hung on the line so I usually do that. But that's often all I do on the clothesline. 

One thing I do to save on drying costs is I always rip my dryer sheets in half. Again, I buy unscented sheets. They are really easy to rip in half and I just do it with my hands. If you are a little OCD and want a straighter line, you can cut them. This means, instead of 40 dries like it says on the box, I get 80. Double the sheets! 

Try not to over dry your clothes. This costs money not only on more energy for more drying but also it stresses the clothing and you won't get as much use out of them.

As always, there are so many ways to save money! Every little bit adds up and there are pennies, pennies everywhere! 

Happy Savings! 

Saving Money on Laundry

1. One way to save money on laundry is to simply do less of it. Some people will wear a shirt for half a day and then wash it. Unless you are doing hot, sweaty work, there really is no need nor reason for that. Shirts can easily be worn a couple of times. Sweaters can be worn many times. Jeans can be worn usually a few more times than shirts. Towels can be hung to dry and used a few times before laundering. Not only does this save money but it also saves time. Everyone can find the level of re-use they are comfortable with. It also saves on wear and tear on clothing so clothing doesn't have to be purchased as often.

2. Clotheslines can be great money savers. I personally do not use one too often because of allergies. However, the dryer is one of the biggest energy users in the house and hanging the clothes to dry can save quite a bit. If you don't like the stiff way clothes feel after hanging, you can tumble dry for a few minutes towards the end of drying or afterwards. I also like the way ironing can be avoided with tumble drying. Make sure you don't over dry your clothes although I confess I am guilty here.

3. Only do a load when there are enough clothes to do a full load. This will save on energy expenses and time as well.

4. Use half the recommended amount for laundry detergent and tear dryer sheets in half. Some people make their own soap. I just make sure I buy my detergent on sale and steep discounts and then always tear dryer sheets in half.

5. If I had to use a laundromat, I would hand wash as many clothes at home as possible and hang dry. This might not be possible for people with families but for a single person or couple it could be done while showering easily enough.

Small changes can add up to big savings over time! Pennies turn into dollars and dollars turn into tens and tens turn into twenties and.......

Happy Savings!

Laundry Frugality

Some money saving tips for laundry:

1. Use cold water. I think this is usually a good thing, unless your clothes are really filthy and you need hot water to really get them clean. This link talks about how much money you may be pouring down the drain by using hot water to wash clothes vs cold.

http://www.thesimpledollar.com/use-cold-water-for-most-clothes-washing-16365/

2. Make sure there is a full load. Smaller loads use the same amount of energy as larger loads. You can use less water though if your machine has a water level knob.

3. Use less detergent than is recommended by the manufacturer.

http://lifehacker.com/5833434/save-money-by-using-just-half-the-laundry-detergent-recommended

4. My Mother-in-law makes her own laundry detergent. I have not personally tried this, but probably will at some point to see if I like the results. I like the idea of this natural detergent with less chemicals:

http://wellnessmama.com/462/homemade-laundry-detergent/

5. Use coupons or look for sales on laundry detergent.

6. Wear your clothes more than once before washing. I do this all the time, especially with jeans unless I get into a really messy job. We also use towels more than once. This not only saves money but time as well.

7. Hang your clothes to dry. I don't personally do this in more recent years because of allergens getting into the clothes and bothering us delicate, allergic types. ;) However, I try not to over-dry clothes.

8. Fold your clothes as soon as they are done drying to save on ironing.

9. I always rip my dryer sheets in half. That works just fine.

So, if you do none of these tips now, it looks like you could potentially save around $500.00 a year by changing a few small things. Give yourself a raise. You deserve it. ;) ($500/year divided by 52 weeks a year divided by 40 hours a week =.24/ hour raise for the year-tax free.)