Homemade Laundry Detergent
Homemade Laundry Detergent and Other "Tricks" To Save Money on Laundry
Home economy has always been an important skill for any homemaker. Even if both partners in a home work to bring in revenue, the jobs of finding ways to be economical in how you shop and how you take care of the home is one that will pay off lots of ways. Not only will you save money in the short term when you can learn to use less consumable goods as well as cut down on electricity and other resources, it is a good lifestyle when you want to "live green" and be good to the environment.
The laundry is an area where you can do a lot to cut down on the costs and to become more ecologically aware. One of the biggest costs, for example, is the laundry detergent. Not only is it expensive but if you use a lot of detergent, which you will if you have children, then you put a lot of soap into the water supply each week. Anything you can do to cut down on how much detergent you use or to use lower cost and environmentally friendly cleaners is a good move for the home and for our world.
It is easy to think that you have to buy Tide or one of the other major name brand laundry detergents to get your cloths clean. But there are a number of environmentally friendly and inexpensive recipes for laundry detergent you can make right at home. The ingredients are inexpensive and the good thing about putting your soap together yourself is that you don't have to make up five pounds at a time. Make it as you use it to cut down on having too much on hand.
You will have to get used to fewer suds when you make your own laundry detergent because the ingredients are natural and less prone to become very sudsy. But it cleans just as well as sudsy commercial brands at much less cost and the recipe results in a mixture that is biodegradable so you don't have to worry about poisoning the fish population or yourself each time a load of laundry drains out.
In addition to saving money on the soap, you can cut down on the amount of water and energy you use when you do the laundry. Most clothes dryers come with a small, medium or large setting for the loads you are running. So make it a policy to use the lowest setting you can. If you can wash a medium sized low on the low setting and a larger load on medium, you use much less water which is good on your utility bills and you conserve electricity too because there is less water to spin and manage by the washer.
Even if you use commercial detergents, there are ways to save money. Most laundry detergents come with scoops for you to measure the soap into the washer. But you don't have to use as much soap as they recommend. After all, the detergent manufacturer wants you to use lots of soap so you have to buy again sooner. Try to use less and less soap each load to see how low you can get in detergent use you can get and still get clean clothes.
These are just a few of the tips for saving money in the laundry room. If you think about conserving energy and how to be a good home economist, you will be able to think of many more yourself.