How to Save Money on Laundry
- June 25, 2008 by Fox | Comments: 18
Let’s talk dirty. Let’s speak of the kind of filth reserved for sweaty undergarments, worn unbuttoned blouses, and stained white t-shirts. Let’s muse about the body odor smelling up fabrics, the armpit rings circling under sleeves, and the ties dipped in mustard. Let’s talk about doing the laundry.
Laundry. It’s tricky to say something clean and refreshing about such a dingy, dirty topic. But dirty laundry is something we all have in common. We all spoil our shirts, we all stink up our socks, and we all stain our slacks. Laundry is also a repetitive task which can cost us big bucks over time. When I stop to calculate the cost of laundry detergent, the power usage of clothing dryers, and the water consumption of washing machines I shudder at the total cost of cleaning filth.
Over the long haul, it’s wise to wonder how much money could be saved by laundering differently with a few fresh techniques. Since I want to spot you some dollars and still whiten your wash, lets look at some ways to save money on cleaning laundry!
1. Laundry Detergent
When is comes to laundry detergent it seems the choices are endless. Many brands boast superior cleaning power, wacky ingredients, and sniffling smells. These brands can also be costly at the till. Try these tips to save money on your laundry detergent bill:
- Buy store brands. Name brand detergents are often more expensive than store brand equivalents, even though both do the same job. Why pay more for the marketing muckity muck and packaging associated with a brand name detergent. Stick with store brands and wash for way less.
- Get powdered. Powered laundry soaps generally cost far less than the liquid variety and also use fewer environmental resources during production. To avoid powdery residue on your clean wash, be sure to fill your washing machine with water and soap before adding your laundry. This method also helps liquefy the detergent powder more evenly into your wash.
- Go green. Here’s the quick and dirty on greener laundry detergent! A green detergent should be non-toxic and biodegradable. It must contain no petroleum based ingredients, no optical brighteners, and no dyes or fragrances (clean doesn’t have a smell). Ingredients may include corn and coconut for surfactants, soda ash and borax for water softeners, and sodium gluconate and sorbitol as a natural anti-redeposition agent.
- Add baking soda. Rescue the soda from your fridge and toss it into your wash. Baking soda is a natural deodorizer and works wonders on stinky gear and smelly shirts. Just add a quarter cup to your washing machine’s rinse cycle to use as a fabric softener and odor remover. To pretreat spots before putting clothes into the wash, try making a paste from a 50/50 mix of baking soda and water.
- Add white vinegar. Take a pass on greasy fish and chips and use your vinegar in the wash! Full strength white vinegar is an excellent cleaning tool for clobbering germs, bacteria, and molds. Along with baking soda, vinegar helps to destinkify and deodorize your smelly kit.
Tip: Add your laundry detergent and one cup of white vinegar and quarter cup of baking soda to whiten and brighten your wash. To remove leftover soap residue, try adding half a cup of white vinegar to the wash rinse cycle. Your clothing will smell clean and fresh. I promise, you won’t smell any vinegar after your clothing is dry.
2. Washing
Washing is a way of life. Unless you have kagillions of dollars, you’re unlikely to wear an outfit just once. So here are some ways to dwindle your washing bill.
- Wash only full loads. Stop doing half loads and start filling your washer to the brim! Half-full loads may use less water but they consume the same electrical power as full loads. Washing with the machine only half full is a sure fire recipe for flushing good money down the drain.
- Wash in cold water. Get out of hot water and save big bucks on your energy bill by washing cold. Save hot water washes for white towels, socks, and underwear. Some sites claim that as much as 90 percent of the energy used when washing clothes is used just for heating the water. By simply washing cold, an average family can save $70 per year on their energy bill. These dollars add up over the years! Try the Switch to Cold Water and Save calculator to figure your savings.
- Use shortest washing cycle. Choose the shorter washing cycles for lightly to moderately soiled clothing. Leave the normal to heavy wash cycles for the real dirty stuff. This approach can help to use less energy since the machine runs for less time. Over the year this adds up!
- Switch to a front-loading washer. Take a spin with a front-loading washing machine to save water, energy, and detergent. The efficiency of these machines is amazing. They require about 40 percent less water per load, consume up to 60 percent less energy, require less detergent to clean, and are more effective in removing water during the spin cycle - so less time in the dryer. These machines are more expensive to buy than top loading machines, but the savings do add up over the years. I am so saving for one.
3. Drying
Sometimes wet clothing needs a good drying. Here are some drying alternatives as well as ways to optimize your dryer.
- Hang dry. Get hung out to dry by skipping the clothes dryer. By using clothing racks in place of a clothes dryer you can save lots on energy costs. I’ve found my clothing lasts longer and fades less when hung out to dry. Alternatively, place clothing in a dryer for just 15 minutes on high heat to fluff, then pull out the still damp laundry and hang it to air dry. This leads to considerable savings. I hang and air my laundry in all seasons, not just in the summer.
- Remove lint. Keep your dryer lint free. A full lint trap doesn’t allow the moist air to escape properly, which slows down the drying cycle and uses more energy. While you’re at it, check your belly button too.
4. Ironing
Stop getting your wallet flattened by ironing costs. The irony is ironing can be done faster with less effort for less bucks by trying these simple pressing tips.
- Less dryer time. Rescue your wardrobe from the dryer sooner by removing your clothes promptly. Leaving clothes in the dryer sets terrible wrinkles, which require way more ironing time. I find removing ironables when still very slightly damp helps to lessen ironing time as well.
- Get foiled. Try inserting aluminum foil between the ironing board and the cover. This helps to conserve heat and gets the job done faster.
- Get spritzed. Get an inexpensive bottle sprayer and add some water. Spraying to moisten ironable items helps to soften wrinkles and requires less time to press.
5. Clean Conclusions
Getting dirty things clean doesn’t have to be a drag. By employing these few wonderful washing techniques, you can save big bucks over the years.
Do you have some tips for washing your wardrobe? Any tricks for saving cleaning dollars? Want to talk dirty?
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Pings:
- Free Photos at CVS Sunday Links | Personal Finance Blog by Money Ning June 29th, 2008
- good productivity and finance blog articles | simple mom July 4th, 2008
- Friends Encourage Friends To Be Frugal. July 24th, 2008
Comments:
I’ve gotta admit, I’m still to chicken to try vinegar. I swear by keeping things 10 minutes in the dryer (just enough to knock out vicious washer wrinkles), then hanging dry.
@Sara Vinegar is awesome. I have lots of stinky workout gear and vinegar is the best solution for killing the smell. It’s cheap too.
I’d also recommend making sure that 1) your dryer vent actually vents to the outdoors (i’ve seen way too many holmes on homes where the dryer vent leads to nowhere!) and 2) that said dryer vent is free from obstructions, clean, and that the opening where the vent ventilates is also not blocked by anything else like shrubbery or hose reels.
Hanging to dry is the best option. If you can’t stand the crunchiness of outdoor dried clothes, fluff the clothes up for a few minutes in the dryer on air only and that will save some $$$ as well
Drying outdoors using the sunshine is also the best stain remover of all time, particularly if you’re drying diapers!
I swear the area you are in is familiar (if that is a photo near you) I think you may be not to far from me.
Anyway, good post!
Unfortunately, we have to use the machines in the building, so some of these won’t work (like waiting for the rinse cycle). But we do wait for full loads and we use the cold & energy saving wash. So pleased that our apartment building offers that option.
Sometimes we also hang dry…but our drying rack needs fixing.
Are there any powder-based store brands that are also green?
We had a front-loading stackable in our old house. Loved it. Sadly, we sold it with the house. Although it was half the size (and twice the price) of the full-size washing machine we have now, you could fit nearly as much in the drum, since there was no agitator. The biggest downside I found is that once the wash cycle starts you can’t add or remove anything.
Good useful topic.
Beware tho that vinegar is heck on rubber gaskets in washers.
But it’s great on getting the smells out, for sure!
Between living where the sun doesn’t shine (NW Coastal OR) and
except on Sundays when the Mill is down.
being on the dusty road to the mill where the log trucks pass by 50 feet from my clothes line, drying clothes just isn’t such a great idea here
On really stained or odor filled items, I really like to just let the clothes soak overnight with soap and baking detergent.
But honey, my landlady pays for my heat, hot water, and electricity… so I don’t pay anything for laundry… so can I get in the washing machine and crank it on ‘hot’ for my tub soak?
I so love our front loading washed. When we bought a house we had to buy appliances and so opted for a mid-range front load washed and regular drier. I couldn’t believe how much drier time it saved the first few times I did the laundry! And uses much less soap and gets the clothes really clean. I am currently using VIP liquid soap for high efficiency washers. Good price, environmentally friendly, available at the grocery store, and works well.
Oh I LOVE VIP soap, i love the granules, they smell so good, it’s just the best smell.
Hey Beth (and anyone else who uses cloth diapers) - a great tip to avoid stains on a cloth diaper: rub a little Sunlight soap (I buy the Sunlight soap bars) on the ‘dirty’ diaper before putting them into the diaper pail. It’s an extra step…but well worth the effort. We also put a little white vinegar into the diaper pail to help ward off any unwated odour before washing day arrives.
I use homemade detergent (recipe on Trent Hamm’s Simple Dollar) and line dry; as I have sensitive skin, the perfumes and dyes in all but the most expensive detergents make me ITCH. I use an olive-oil based soap (just because it’s so cheap that I can afford to splurge on that) and a few drops of lavender oil for scenting–it’s wonderful!
I’ve yet to try the vinegar trick–apparently it’s a fabric softener, too.
Good article. I find that I can use about half of the amount of detergent recommended on the package, and get good results in cold water (unless the clothes are very dirty). I use regular detergent, since the ‘cold water’ brands cost more for some reason,
I’d like to have a front-loading washer, but our old top-loader still works. We don’t use the dryer much, so it doesn’t matter that the old machine extracts less water than a new machine would. Since you are a financial whiz, Fox, can you explain how to figure the savings (if any) in switching to a front-loader? What is the life expectancy of the new front-loading machines compared to the old top-loaders? Is is cost-effective to switch if the old model still works?
I always hang my laundry out to dry. On sunny days, the sun acts as a bleaching agent and so whites get even whiter without the use of any chemicals. The fresh air acts as the best fragrance and also less ironing is generally required - some things don’t even need ironing after being hung out to dry.
I always include a dry beach towel with my dryer load. The towel reduces the drying time of the clothes that are nearly dry from my–read it and weep–front loading dryer. Also, using one=half to one-fourth of the detergent’s recommended amount works well on nearly everything, including my husband’s gardening clothes. Last tip, I turn laundry inside-out before washing and drying–keeps them looking newer longer and reduces “pilling” which doesn’t (but should) mean popping antidepressants to get over how crummy those cute capris look after you slaved to get ‘em clean but instead means those little fuzzballs that form on your clothes due to friction.