by Evelyn Guy

Created on: June 12, 2008

Raising a family of eight children and foster parenting over thirty children meant doing laundry for a family that regularly numbered six to nine members. Living on minimum wage most of that time meant doing all I could to make laundry day more efficient and as cheap as possible. Over the years, I have learned several techniques to save on laundry costs. These money-saving tips fall into several areas, such as: frequency, sorting, pre-treating, water temp, load size, products, drying and clothing purchases.

First, frequency of doing laundry can go a long way toward saving on laundry costs. There is a happy balance between doing laundry too often and not often enough. You want to make sure you have full loads of each type of laundry, such as colors, whites, jeans, towels, etc. Washing less than a full load is not cost-efficient. Machines hold much more than they did in the past, so make sure you are doing full loads to the machines capacity. However, overstuffing in an attempt to get that last pair of jeans in this load is not wise. Having just a bit too much in one load not only prevents effective cleaning, it is hard on the machine. Frequency also includes washing before tough stains set in. The longer a garment sits the harder it is to clean it. Stains can be pre-treated to help some, but just plain soil sets in over time. Frequency also involves maybe wearing a garment more than one time before laundering (might not work for children) or using a bath towel more than one time. Try to limit the need for washing blankets, bedspreads, jackets, and other large ticket items. Often, they can be spot cleaned if something gets spilled, avoiding a complete laundering.

The first step in doing laundry the cheapest is to sort correctly. Of course, separating colors from whites, and lights from darks is a given. But, other factors enter into sorting. One is checking for stains. One little spot that is overlooked may ruin a garment, or cause repeated laundering attempts. Take a few minutes to thoroughly look over clothing and spot stains that need extra care. Most clothing can be run through a short cycle and save on electricity that way. If a garment if barely soiled, less time is needed to launder it. If it is heavily soiled, or needs spot-cleaning, then a longer wash cycle may be beneficial. Also, sorting out reds can prevent a lot of heartache with color transfer. Washing numerous times to get the "red out" wastes lots of laundry products and utilities. The same holds

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