I have a confession - I actually like doing laundry. It's one of those tasks that I find soothing, maybe because it takes me back to growing up and having some of my best talks with my mom as we folded sheets and ironed Dad's shirts. The 'warm fuzzies' have stayed with me even through three babies and the mountains of dirty clothes/diapers that they have created.
Like death and taxes, doing the laundry is one of those inescapable things. Every household has to find a way to manage it, so here are some tips to ease the impact on your pocketbook.
Washer:
The biggest savings for washer-use comes from USING COLD WATER for BOTH the wash and rinse cycle. Ninety percent of the cost of running a washer comes from heating the water. Check out michaelbluejay.com - it's a very interesting read. Even if you don't wash in cold, always rinse in cold. Lucky you if you have a front loading washer - you will use less water and less soap automatically, and your clothes are much dryer after spinning than with the conventional top loading washer.
Only wash full loads. I found that I was washing some small loads because I had thrown damp cloths, towels etc into the laundry basket and I was afraid to leave it lest it mold. The solution I found was to have a separate basket that I threw the damp items into. Once a day, I take this basket downstairs to the laundry room and just soak it in a bucket with a little borax (natural deodorizer). When I am ready to do a load of laundry, I just wring these items out and add them to the washer.
If you are worried that your clothes won't get clean enough with cold water, try pretreating stains and/or soaking a load of wash before laundering.
Dryers:
If you use a dryer, know that the biggest cost of using it is creating the heat to dry the clothes. To maximize its efficiency, don't let it cool down between loads. When a load is dried, yank it out and immediately stuff the next wet load in. Don't overfill. I read somewhere that 22 lbs of wet laundry seems to be the ideal weight load for the average dryer.
Make sure you empty the lint tray regularly, otherwise your engine will work harder. In fact, worst case scenario, it can kill the motor. Seriously. I spoke with an appliance repairman who told me of a customer who thought that she had a dryer that emptied its own tray (is there such a thing?) and she never emptied it for five years. Eventually the dryer up and died. That was an expensive lesson. And if you use fabric softener sheets, make sure you clean the lint trap with water, soap and a toothbrush every now and again as it will get a build up on it. Dry lint trap well and replace.
Periodically check your dryer vent to make sure it isn't blocked.
Learn how well your dryer performs by checking loads before the dryer switches off. You may be over-drying your clothes. Use the moisture sensor on your dryer if you have it.
How much does it cost to dry one load of laundry? Naturally it will depend on the price of electricity in your area, as well as the electrical consumption of your dryer. But for a ball park figure, one estimate I read for an electric dryer was 57 cents for a 40 minute load. So, if the average family does 6-8 loads of laundry per week that means $177.84-$237.12 per year spent just running your dryer. Hmmm.
Drying Racks/Clotheslines
I live in Canada, and although it is possible to use an outdoor clothesline in the winter, I am not willing to wait the three days for it to freeze dry. So during the winter months or rainy months, I use a drying rack and clothes rod and save the dryer just for sheets and towels. Tricks for maximizing space on drying racks:
1) When removing your clothes from the washing machine, start sorting it into your basket. Use the edges of the basket to lay hand towels in one section, socks in another, pants in another, etc. Immediately take all shirts and hang them on hangers. I run my hands down the sleeves and collars, so that they dry with less wrinkles and I am careful that the shoulders are hanging evenly.
2) When hanging clothes on the drying rack, hang similar things together in the same area. For example, all facecloths are on the lower racks. I make sure that they hang over the rod exactly in the middle so when I fold them to put them away, they lie flat.
3) Hang socks side by side as pairs.
4) Use every available space of the drying rack, including the sides.
5) Sort clothes, where possible, by person, so when you take them off the rack or clothesline, you can put each person's clothes into their own basket and it's faster to sort and put away.
6) On the clothesline, use hangers to hang all shirts - it saves a lot of room and you can get more loads up at a time. If you place your hangers in between other pegged items, this will prevent your hangers from bunching together in the wind.
Laundry Soap
Laundry soap is amazingly expensive and many leading commercial brands are full of chemicals and optical brighteners (stuff that stays in your clothes and reflects light in such a way that you think the clothes are whiter and therefore cleaner). If you go to livingonadime.com , they have a video that shows you how to make your own laundry soap. I haven't been able to find the Fels Naptha soap they recommend, but I find most any bar soap will do just fine. I make a double batch in my 16 litre pasta pot. You may find that the homemade soap doesn't have quite the power of some commercial detergents on the market. I find it works great on dark loads, and if you pretreat stains, I think you will find this a worthwhile change to your laundry routine. Even if you use it every other load, or just on darks, you will save a ton of money. One modification I have made on the recipe is to add some Organic Orange TKO Super Concentrated Cleaner to my soap. You can buy this pretty much everywhere; I buy it at my grocery store. Yes, adding this cleaner does raise the price of your homemade soap a little, but I think it performs better with it and the scent is fabulous. It is still cheaper than commercial soaps.
Fabric Softener
I don't use them. I am concerned about all the chemicals that we introduce into our homes and especially what we wear next to our skins. Also, we are fortunate that our water is reasonably soft, so I don't find the need for them. However a quick search of the Web will bring up many recipes for homemade fabric softener made from baking soda, vinegar, water and a few drops of essential oils.
Anti-Static Dryer Sheets
I am not a fan of dryer sheets, again because of all the chemicals they contain. Drying natural fibres and polyester fibres together creates static cling, so you can avoid that by separating them before drying or just hang the clothes to dry. Many sources recommend using the homemade fabric softener mentioned above to cut down on static. I tried dryer balls that are supposed to eliminate static cling but I found that they were next to useless, made a huge racket and scared the cat.
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