Washing dirty clothes is a necessary part of life. However, doing laundry can be expensive if not done properly. Here are eight laundry-saving tips to bring down the cost of doing laundry.
1. Sort before you wash. Wash whites with whites, like colors together, and heavier fabrics together. This means you’ll avoid bleeding laundry, extra lint on fabrics, and you won’t have to dry everything for the same amount of time.
2. Wash whatever you can in cold water. Using cold water rather than hot can reduce the energy you use with each load. Limit using hot water except for the dirtiest clothes. Use only cold when rinsing. If you’d like to stop using hot water altogether, you can presoak heavily soiled clothes so you can use cooler temperatures when you wash.
3. Wash only full loads. Washing machines are designed to work on full capacity. They can, of course, also wash smaller loads if necessary. Find out what your machine’s capacity is in pounds and then weigh some to get an idea of how much laundry the manufacturer recommends. Washing one large load will actually use less energy that washing two smaller loads on a lower height setting.
4. Buy energy-efficient appliances. Energy Star washing machines use up to 50% less energy than standard machines. The majority of the energy for washing clothes comes from heating the water. To reduce costs, an Energy Star washer will reduce the amount of water used, as well as use lower water temperatures to clean the same clothes. If you don’t have an Energy Star washer, you can cut your energy use in half by reducing the temperature from hot to warm, even more if moved to cold.
5. Hang clothes to dry rather than using the dryer. If it’s a nice day, why not give your dryer a rest. Solar energy is free; you can’t get much cheaper than that!
6. Dry more than one load of clothes per day. If you do use your dryer, take advantage of the heat left in the dryer after one load to dry another. The machine will be already be heated up, so it’ll take less energy to get it to the correct temperature for the next load.
7. Clean the dryer filter after each load. Dryer lint clogs up the filter. This restricts air flow and reduces the dryer’s performance. If air can’t go through the clothes, they won’t dry. Cleaning the lint ensures the dryer will work at peak performance every time.
8. Dry full loads, but don’t overfill it. For a dryer to work properly, there has to be room for the air to circulate around the clothes. If the dryer is too full, the clothes will merely tumble and not dry.
Doing laundry isn’t the favorite activity of many people. Many parents dread how high their electric and water bills will be when doing laundry for their family. Using these eight laundry-saving tips, you can do your laundry and save money at the same time.
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