How to save money doing laundry1. Don't drive to the laundromat to wash your laundry. Purchase a washer and dryer or use a friend's. 2. Make your own laundry soap for 3 cents per load. - Heat 4 cups of water
- Shave 1 bar of soap right before the water comes to a boil
- Pour 3 gallons of water into a 5 gallon container
- Add soapy water mixture into 5 gallon container
- Stir
- Add 1 cup of washing soda (sodium carbonate)
- Stir
- Add 1/2 cup of Borax
- Stir
- Let sit overnight
- Use 1 cup per load
3 Don't use fabric softener liquid. Stock up on fabric softener sheets when they are on sale for under $2. 4. Never do less then a full load. You use the same amount of heat and water no matter how much laundry is in the machine. 5. Wash colors in cold water. 6. Remove clothes that dry quickly from the dryer half way through the cycle, e.g., bed sheets and pillow cases. Hang your clothes to air dry. 7. Clean the dryers lint trap after every load. Clean the outside lint trap twice a year. 8. Don't buy white clothes, socks or underwear. This way you will not need to buy bleach.
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First, just a bit of a critique. Some washers have options to do smaller loads that use less water. Mine does. Also, when investing in a washer, side loaders use less water, and so does the Whirlpool Calypso, which is what I have. Expensive washer, but very much worth it. I do use standard detergents and liquid fabric softener, but with couponing, it's not too bad. I stopped buying the special high efficiency detergent that I'm supposed to buy for my washer and just use less of the regular stuff.
A couple other tips to save money doing laundry . . . during cold weather, vent the dryer inside to "reuse" the heat instead of letting it all be wasted outside. Just put panty hose over the thingy to catch lint.
Also, in each load of laundry that you're drying, put a couple of clean dry towels in there too. They will make the load dry more quickly.