Saving money on laundry


Saving money on laundry, another small place that can eat a lot of cash.

For those who are not insane or do not have the time to wash clothes the old fashioned way (yes, I do mean washboard and hand scrubbing):

  • Avoid the hype about brightening your clothes. The chemicals used to do so leave a coating on the fabrics that absorbs the light to give the appearance of being brighter. Expensive additives that will damage your clothes.
  • Use cold water for most of your laundry. Remember if you are using bleach for your whites hot water will actually make the bleach more potent by forcing more chlorine molecules to join together creating a stronger acid. Bleach will "eat" your clothing.
  • Buy laundry soap in bulk or switch to using washing soda and borax. 1:1 ratio (I need to double check that before making my next batch) of each ingredient. Environmentally friendly, inexpensive to make. 1/4 cup in the wash does the trick.
  • Hang to dry, harder for apartment dwellers but you can come up with creative ways to line dry your wash.
  • Vinegar, 1/8 cup per load, as a fabric softener and deodorizer.
  • Small more frequent loads. You use less water with small loads of laundry which also saves energy. If you are on public water there is energy expended to process the water, the less you use the less water needs to be processed.
For those who are as crazy as I am, I have never professed sanity in any form, innocence maybe sanity never.

  • Purchase an old fashioned washboard, you can find them in junk/antique shops all the time.
  • Purchase a round water trough from your local feed supply place and a stand to place it on.
  • Purchase gloves to protect your hands, rubber if you have to or an environmentally friendly equivalent.
  • Wash small loads at a time to save your back and shoulders. Using  homemade or eco-friendly laundry soap you can use the left over water in your garden, often referred to as gray water.
  • If you are lucky enough to find one and wringer washer works well too.
  • Remember to wring your laundry out a bit before hanging it on the line.
  • Hang clothes to dry, don't forget to add vinegar to your rinse water to keep towels and other heavy fabrics soft.
Hand washing your laundry can be time consuming and hard work, however, you will use less water and energy by doing so. Remember to do it early in the morning, use the rule of thumb that if laundry is on the line by noon it will be dry before the sun goes down. Hand washing your clothes will help them last longer.

Light and Love!

Posted by Tammy Curry at Wednesday, March 17, 2010 11:07 AM
Categories: Gardening, Homesteading, Frugal
Tags: education natural mini-homestead frugal
 

What did you think of this article?




Trackbacks
Trackback specific URL for this post
  • No trackbacks exist for this post.
Comments
Display comments as (Linear | Threaded)

Leave a comment

 Enter the above security code (required)

 Name

 Email (will not be published)

 Website

Your comment is 0 characters limited to 3000 characters.