Tips and Tricks for Wash Day

4:16 PM

WashDay


Doing the laundry can be expensive. Over time, all that soap, electricity, water and other items to do laundry adds up over time. Today, I will be sharing some of the things that my family does to keep our costs down.


Laundry Detergent
Laundry detergent is probably the single biggest cost in doing the laundry. Our family hasn’t bought name-brand detergent years but recently, needing to save some money we learned to make our own. It works really well and we just love the way it makes the clothes smell. The only down side is that it isn’t as good at getting out stains as store bought detergent, so we keep some stain remover on hand also.

1 cup grated Fels Naptha soap

½ cup washing soda

½ cup Borax

2 Tablespoons Glycerin

2 Gallons hot water (Note; the original recipe called for to cups)

Mix grated soap, washing soda and Borax together. Add glycerin and water. Use about ½ per load of laundry.



How to dry clothes
Another great way to save money while doing laundry is to hang your clothes out on a line instead of using the dryer. We have a dryer but for the most part we hang out or laundry except for what we call our whites. Things that are hung outside tend to not be as soft as when you use the dyer and so we our load of whites (containing primarily underthings) in the dryer so they will be soft, everything else we hang out, weather permitting.

Hanging out your laundry does take more work but it will be worth it when you see how much you save on your electric bill from not running the dryer, even if you have an energy star appliance. However, if you do use the dryer, put a dry towel in every load. This will cut down on the amount of time it takes everything to dry, therefore cutting the energy costs.



Other Tips

1. Designate one or two laundry days a week and don’t wash anything on any other days.

2. Wear clothes more than once before washing.

3. Use towels repeatedly before tossing them into the laundry bucket.

4. When you have taken all the clothes off the clothes line, make sure to take the clothes pins inside so they don’t get wet.

5. If you don’t have the time to hang all the laundry out on the line, try just doing one, every little bit helps.


Do you have some great wash day savings tips?



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1 comments

  1. Great tips Sarah! :D Excellent job! I may have to see if we can try out the laundry soap. ;)

    We would hang dry our clothes too, but we live in a city-type area, as you know, and our house is right on the corner...so we don't feel comfortable having our clothes so close to the road or feel they'd still be "clean" after they had dried. :( I'll keep that in mind though for future use. :)

    Love and Hugs!
    ~Rachel~

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