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!