Saving Money on Clothes Part 1

When talking budget cuts, buying the clothes is a different story, but taking care of them? It's easy to save money when doing the laundry. Costs can add up: laundry soap, softener, anti-static, pre-treating chemicals, and the actual cost of running the washer and dryer can amount to a small fortune if you use everything. I have a mini-Laundromat in my building, but the cost of running the equipment if you own it can still add up silently. So how can you reduce this weekly (in my case; more often if you have kids, less often if you...well...are more hippy-ish or live in a nudist colony) bill? Here are some suggestions:

1) Skip the dryer for things you don't need to be supersoft and cuddly. If you have a backyard, invest in a clothes tree or clothesline to dry your clothes on. You'll pay a modest sum upfront and then save for years and years afterwords. Plus, who doesn't love the smell of springtime coming in along with freshly laundered sheets? Don't have a yard? Apartment dwellers can invest in a simple folding clothes drying rack to dry their clothes. If you don't have a well ventilated apartment or it's humid outside, direct a small fan to blow on the clothes and it'll do the job just fine.


2) Save money on your products. If you're using dryer sheets, you don't need fabric softener too. You can use a bit of detergent to pre-treat most stains without buying special "stain-fighting formulas"... your detergent does that anyway. Invest in a tide-to-go pen and treat stains right away so that they can be easily treated later. Tide to Go Instant Stain Remover, 1 unit. Or, check out here http://www.pgeverydaysolutions.com/pgeds/pgeverydaysavings/index.jsp?utm_source=tide&utm_medium=imedia&utm_content=image&utm_campaign=everydaySavings to get coupons for products like Tide, Bounty, and Downy. You can google "Printable laundry coupons" and see if your brands pop up! Also, look at store brands. Usually they're the same quality and a few dollars cheaper.

3) Limit the clothes you wash. Do you have a habit of throwing everything into the dirty laundry right away? If you go to class in jeans and a tee shirt, but put on pjs as soon as you get home, like I do, you don't need to wash those clothes just yet. Jeans can usually stand up to several wearings until they need to be washed, unless you spill something on them. I put shirts through an inspection before the go into the laundry: is there anything on it? Does it smell funny? If it doesn't and it's the first time it's been worn, it gets folded and put on the vanity. I don't like putting it away in the closet, but there's no point washing something that's not dirty.

For the things that aren't clothes:
Bath mats can usually be spruced up with a good shake or two outside. They don't need to be washed very often.
You can prolong the use of your sheets by showering before you go to bed (or giving yourself a mini-sponge bath if you're the type that has to shower in the a.m.). I have carpet now, but when I had wood or tile floors in my bedroom I'd wash my feet with a washcloth right before getting into bed, even if I'd just bathed.
Make sure you hang up your towels in the bathroom and leave the vent fan on until they're dry. If you dry them right away there's less chance of them getting musty, and you can use them longer.
Curtains can be vacuumed, if you have the right attachment. I give them a good shake before I vacuum the floor, and use a damp washcloth to wipe the bottom and side edges clean. This is where I see most dust buildup. If you take care of them like this, washing them once or twice a year will be sufficient.

Finally, there's the good old "visiting the parents" strategy. Fill your car up with washables and go on a road trip to home.

Hope these tips help! Do you have anything you do to keep your laundry bill lower? Comment and tell me about it? Think it's gross to re-use clothes? Tell me that too!

Quick Post: Links to Articles about Saving Money

http://finance.yahoo.com/family-home/article/110535/6-outrageously-overpriced-products

http://finance.yahoo.com/family-home/article/110384/things-you-shouldnt-be-paying-for?mod=family-love_money

I will note that books from the library are NOT the same as buying one. But other than that, good advice!

Various Stages of Planning

     Living well on a small budget is possible, but it requires two things: flexible planning, and the ability to be honest with yourself. What does self reflection have to do with budgeting? What do you do that breaks your budget? Do you find yourself clicking "Add to Cart" too easily online? Do you usually end up spending more than you intended while out with friends? Does your list of bills disappear from your mind when you see an AMAZING sale at the mall? My personal pitfall is food. All my spending money goes to food; either getting something to eat with friends, stopping by a drive-thru or convenience store because I forgot to pack lunch, and the big downfall for many Americans: that $1.50 coffee (or $4 latte) that I'd grab without thinking about it. When I started planning for my move away from home, I knew I needed to figure out how to keep myself from blowing money on nomming. This leads me to the first requirement: flexible planning. I stressed flexible because if your plan is rigid, you will break it eventually. If your plan has a back up plan, and the back up plan has a back up plan, you're less likely to break it.

     I, the obsessive planner, started planning my move a good six months before I actually changed residences. While you don't need to move in order to begin living creatively within a budget, it is helpful to have a planning stage working towards a goal. Weaning off those everyday purchases may help, or making a goal (by next month, I will take my own coffee to work and not buy it from Starbucks, etc.) might work better for you.

     So what's the first step towards living creatively within a budget? Figure out your weakness. Where do you spend money the most? Many financial experts recommend writing down everything you spend every day for a few days. Include the dollars and cents, and don't alter your spending habits while you take notes. Sound familiar? A lot of diet strategies say the same thing. And spending less money is very similar to a food diet; it's the same premise. We know we can save money by getting up a few minutes earlier to brew our own coffee, but Starbucks and other coffee places are still booming with business--why? I really think a lot of our purchases are fueled by a need to consume. It's just like a need to eat or smoke: we're conditioned to think that modern conveniences equal a better life. We're told over and over that our time is worth more than our money, but no one stops to think that the few minutes it takes to make a cup of coffee in the morning is less of a wait than standing in line next to grumpy, under-caffeinated people and being waited on by a teenage barista that may or may not know how to brew a decent cup. The fact that our nation still does this proves to me that we're infatuated with buying things. So: what is your weakness? What is the one thing you spend too much on? Conversely, what area of your budget do you refuse to downsize on? Spend some time thinking about this, and you're welcome to post a comment below identifying your weakness! Good luck with your introspection!

A Little About Me

Before I start wowing you with my simple tricks to living well while being...well, economically disabled... I thought I should share a little about who I am, how I know what I know, and what I'll be blogging about.

I am an almost-quarter century college student at Towson University in Baltimore. I got my A.S. degree from Hagerstown Community College and just moved to the city after years of living between a cornfield and a mall. I started my college career at the age of 22, a bit behind the curve but much more attentive to my schoolwork because of my years away. This age group is relatively unique: most of the "returning students" are over the age of 25, and most of the first time students are around 18. My age has allowed me to thrive in a gray area between the two ages: I'm old enough to know what life is like in the "grown up" world of rent, car payments, and work; but I also identify with the popular culture, fads, and sense of humor of the younger group. At HCC I was able to use this middle ground to reach out to other students by running workshops for resume building and job hunting skills, developing new clubs and joining established ones, and having fun hanging out with students several years younger than me. A lot of times I forget how old I am! This is a very fun place to be: I get to have all the fun of a younger student while having the responsibilities and the knowledge to life live as an adult.

I moved out of my parents' when I was eighteen and lived with roommates and on my own before moving back in 2008 to return to school. Saddled with a car payment, a cell phone bill, and all the other trappings of being a "grown up," I was unable to fulfill my dream of returning to college without the support of my parents. Because of their dedication, I was able to earn scholarships and fund my transition to a four year. Last month, I moved out of my parents' and into my own apartment about 10 minutes away from my new campus. While the financial prospect is slightly brighter than it was two years ago, I am still definitely a poor college student (or a poor writer in a garret, depending on my current outlook). I also have expensive taste! I like nice things, I like environmentally responsible things, and I don't always have the money to buy what I want. I am the type of girl who would rather go without than get a cheap version of something I really really want. To counteract this, I have learned to be creative and to plan ahead. In this blog I'll share with you tips and tricks to make your lives easier, cheaper, and more sensible. Most Americans really overspend for convenience items that are bad for you, bad for the environment, and cheaper than homemade alternatives. But I'm also a little lazy, so this blog isn't going to have you working from dawn to dusk just to save a few bucks!


If you have questions or suggestions, want to yell at me for my grammar, or get more information on anything I mention here, please email me at acengland85@gmail.com. I don't claim to be an expert in anything and my advice and recommendations are purely based on my experiences, so feel free to enlighten me if I'm wrong!