Yet anther topic just about everyone can relate to: Laundry. I have the fortune to not pay any utilities (my landlord rocks), but after years of living with my parents, I am well aware of what an expense laundry actually is. I have also learned, from having a pukey baby, laundry is never ending and just when you think you're fully stocked in detergent and dryer sheets, you're out at the store buying more. Tired of the seemingly never ending, "Oh honey, we need laundry detergent," I thought to to myself a whole bunch of what ifs. The what ifs turned to whens and now I share with you my laundry secrets.
Down With Sorting: Lump all your laundry together. Seriously. Down with sorting. When I did laundry for my mom, I was an obsessive sorter. White, Brights, Lights, Jeans/Blues, Blacks, Greys, Earth Tones. What the-- now that's out of control. Not only was I going totally overboard wasting time, but also wasting water and energy with smaller loads. This may not apply to larger families who can still sort and make full loads, but for my family of 3, it would probably take every white sock, shirt, and panty to make even a medium sized load.
I have yet to have any colors bleed onto anything else. The only times I actually sort is if I have new jeans or towels. Those will probably bleed for a few washes, but jeans and towels are big/heavy enough that I can make a decent load of them fairly quickly.
I also wash the baby's clothes with ours. Like the whites, it would take far too long to conjure up a load worth the energy and water I'm using, what with his pants being a whopping 8 inches tall. A lot of moms couldn't believe I did this, I mean, don't you need to use special baby detergent? Well sure. I just wash our clothes in baby detergent too. No big deal.
Some Like it Hot: But the laundry doesn't. Washing clothes in cold water will save you money and the energy that is required for heating up the water for warm or hot wash cycles. I have been washing in cold since I've been washing and my clothes come just as clean, though this seems to be a topic of debate among germophobes.
Throwing in the Towel: Washing a towel after every use is like washing PJ pants after every use. There's no real need. I mean, come on. What do you use a towel for anyway? To dry off. To dry off your clean body. Hang it up, let it dry, then use it for another two or three times. Cutting down the number of towel loads you do will cut down on everything big time. Towels, after all, take the longest to dry.
Recycle Denim: I used to think I was pretty grody for doing it, but apparently, it's more common than I thought! Wearing a pair of jeans two or three times a week, is another good way to save on laundry, much like the towels. Naturally, clothes get messy so if you drop the gravy train, by all means, please put them in the wash, but for a day of hanging out or errand running, throw them over the back of the chair (or in my case, the bassinet that I still have to move to the basement) and give them a little extra love later on before washing them.
Going Halfsies: See the 'fill line' on your detergent cup? Ignore it. If you use half the amount of detergent you normally would, I promise you won't notice a difference, and that's coming from someone who washes poopy diapers on the daily. (see my article on Cloth Diapers for cleaning and sanitizing)
While you're at it, nix liquid fabric softener altogether.
Walking the Line: If you have the opportunity to, (I can't wait) Line Dry. Clothes that are hanging out on a line get naturally freshened and softened by the air, and aside from a line of thin rope and clothespins, it's free! In the spring and summer months, unplug that dryer and get a little old fashioned. When I was a kid my mom used a clothesline and I used to love running through the sheets and the towels. The clothes always smelled so good too.
In the winter months or rainy days, a drying rack can be used in place of the clothesline. It doesn't have the same effect as line dried clothes, but for those of you gung-ho about significantly reducing the use of your dryer, it is a pretty good alternative. My mom used to dry all my jeans this way because teen jeans are made of so much spandex they just love to shrink in the dryer.
My mom also uses the pipes in her laundry room (in the basement) to things like dress shirts, chef coats and anything with beading or sequins on it. If my laundry room weren't 5x5 I'd come up with something creative like that, but it's dryer central for me for now.
The way I Felt: Literally. Felt. Or rather, felted wool. Felted wool dryer balls.
Down With Sorting: Lump all your laundry together. Seriously. Down with sorting. When I did laundry for my mom, I was an obsessive sorter. White, Brights, Lights, Jeans/Blues, Blacks, Greys, Earth Tones. What the-- now that's out of control. Not only was I going totally overboard wasting time, but also wasting water and energy with smaller loads. This may not apply to larger families who can still sort and make full loads, but for my family of 3, it would probably take every white sock, shirt, and panty to make even a medium sized load.
I have yet to have any colors bleed onto anything else. The only times I actually sort is if I have new jeans or towels. Those will probably bleed for a few washes, but jeans and towels are big/heavy enough that I can make a decent load of them fairly quickly.
I also wash the baby's clothes with ours. Like the whites, it would take far too long to conjure up a load worth the energy and water I'm using, what with his pants being a whopping 8 inches tall. A lot of moms couldn't believe I did this, I mean, don't you need to use special baby detergent? Well sure. I just wash our clothes in baby detergent too. No big deal.
Some Like it Hot: But the laundry doesn't. Washing clothes in cold water will save you money and the energy that is required for heating up the water for warm or hot wash cycles. I have been washing in cold since I've been washing and my clothes come just as clean, though this seems to be a topic of debate among germophobes.
Throwing in the Towel: Washing a towel after every use is like washing PJ pants after every use. There's no real need. I mean, come on. What do you use a towel for anyway? To dry off. To dry off your clean body. Hang it up, let it dry, then use it for another two or three times. Cutting down the number of towel loads you do will cut down on everything big time. Towels, after all, take the longest to dry.
Recycle Denim: I used to think I was pretty grody for doing it, but apparently, it's more common than I thought! Wearing a pair of jeans two or three times a week, is another good way to save on laundry, much like the towels. Naturally, clothes get messy so if you drop the gravy train, by all means, please put them in the wash, but for a day of hanging out or errand running, throw them over the back of the chair (or in my case, the bassinet that I still have to move to the basement) and give them a little extra love later on before washing them.
Going Halfsies: See the 'fill line' on your detergent cup? Ignore it. If you use half the amount of detergent you normally would, I promise you won't notice a difference, and that's coming from someone who washes poopy diapers on the daily. (see my article on Cloth Diapers for cleaning and sanitizing)
While you're at it, nix liquid fabric softener altogether.
Walking the Line: If you have the opportunity to, (I can't wait) Line Dry. Clothes that are hanging out on a line get naturally freshened and softened by the air, and aside from a line of thin rope and clothespins, it's free! In the spring and summer months, unplug that dryer and get a little old fashioned. When I was a kid my mom used a clothesline and I used to love running through the sheets and the towels. The clothes always smelled so good too.
In the winter months or rainy days, a drying rack can be used in place of the clothesline. It doesn't have the same effect as line dried clothes, but for those of you gung-ho about significantly reducing the use of your dryer, it is a pretty good alternative. My mom used to dry all my jeans this way because teen jeans are made of so much spandex they just love to shrink in the dryer.
My mom also uses the pipes in her laundry room (in the basement) to things like dress shirts, chef coats and anything with beading or sequins on it. If my laundry room weren't 5x5 I'd come up with something creative like that, but it's dryer central for me for now.
The way I Felt: Literally. Felt. Or rather, felted wool. Felted wool dryer balls.
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| Wool Dryer Balls |
These are great, and I only just started using them in place of dryer sheets. I have heard of people using tennis balls, but the general consensus I have found was that wool balls are preferred. They get all up in between your clothes, cutting dry time (and for anyone paying their own electric that's a big hooray). I'm sure the more you put into the dryer, the more you can cut down on time. I have two of them, both of them on the smaller side and I've noticed that with large loads, the dry time is shorter by 15 minutes (75min to 60min), and smaller-medium loads by 15-20 minutes. I'm sure my landlord is thanking me.
I hate dryer sheets. Really. I think maybe I'm just a little crazy but one of my household pet peeves is the remains of the dryer sheet while I'm folding laundry.
The wool balls do everything a dryer sheet is meant to do. They reduce static and they soften your clothes (so you really can nix the fabric softener), even jeans! They do get a little pilly, but you can shave them down with a sweater shaver/sweater brick, or leave them! I leave the pills on mine because I read somewhere that the pills create extra surface texture, making your clothes softer.
But really, the best thing about these? You can make them yourself. (Tutorial HERE at GoodMama) And I really mean you can. You don't have to have a crafty bone in your body, and you can still make them. Just make sure that you get felting wool yarn, not machine washable yarn. While wool is expensive, I don't know if it is any more expensive than other yarns, since I am not a knitter. I paid $6 for my wool yarn and got 3 dryer balls out of it. I like to think that $6 to cut out the cost of ever having to buy dryer sheets again, plus the savings on your electric bill is absolutely justified. My mom did say she saw felting yarn, for $1 at Job Lot, but I haven't checked it out yet.
Happy Laundering!
:: Celeste
holy smokes! i have never heard of wool dryer balls but i am soooo gonna make some. if i can stop buying fabric softener and sheets i will be sooo happy! wish i could line dry more here but theirs alot of power lines and plenty of bird poo which keeps my hang dry clothes inside
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