Got No Dough - Saving Money in Slim Times

Previously, I mentioned that I would rather use a more expensive laundry detergent and cut back on the amount of laundry I do instead of using cheaper detergents or making my own detergent.  Sounds great in theory, but just exactly how does a family reduce their dirty laundry?

1.  Wear jeans more than once.  Jeans are one of the heartiest pieces of clothing and can typically withstand more than one wearing.  You can also save a little on your gas (or electric) bill because jeans usually take longer to dry than regular laundry.
2. Don’t wash your towels after each use.  I already wash too many towels each week, I can’t imagine washing our personal towels every day too.  Remember, you use your towel to dry off your CLEAN body.  Instead, wash once a week or as often as they start to smell like mildew.
3. Reuse your pajamas.  Again, another item of clothing that doesn’t need to be washed everyday.  Put your pajamas on after you take a shower and keep them even cleaner.  Save even more by not wearing pajamas at all
4. Don’t wash clothes that have only been worn a couple of hours.  How often do we wear something for half a day and then throw it in the laundry?  Instead, take an extra minute to fold or hang up the item of clothing to be worn again another day.
5. Promptly remove items from the washer or dryer.  I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had to rewash my clothes because I had mistakenly left them in the washer all day or overnight.  Just a rinse doesn’t get the terrible smell out, so I usually have to run the load with a little more detergent.  What a waste of detergent AND water.
6. Fold and hang up clothes when they are done drying.  If you’ve ever thrown a clean load of laundry on the bed I’m sure you know how easy it is for that load to magically wind up back into the hamper.  Nothing more wasteful than washing a clean load of clothes!

The key is really to figure out whether your clothes are truly dirty or just need to be freshened up a little.  For freshening, try spraying some Febreeze on the article and sticking it into the dryer for about 5 minutes rather than putting it through a whole wash cycle.  Not only do you cut back on the amount of laundry, but you also save wear and tear on your items.

What other tips do you know to cut back on your loads of laundry?  I’m curious as to how many loads of laundry other people do in comparison to the size of their family.