Genius Laundry Hacks to Save You Time and Money
Looking for easy ways to save you time and money on laundry? Here are my top 14 laundry hacks as a frugal homemaking mama of 4!
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Having 6 people in our home means dirty laundry can fill up quickly. I remember my mom’s set laundry day was Sunday. She’d spend the morning reading the paper and clipping coupons and the afternoon and evening washing, drying, and folding laundry. And complaining the entire time. No shade to my mama, but there is a much better way!
Minimize Your Wardrobe
I’m not telling you to be a minimalist, but when you own less clothing, you have less laundry and save more money on clothes. Try creating a capsule wardrobe or simply declutter your current wardrobe. Then do it for each person, especially your children. Let’s face it, they like wearing the same 2 outfits anyways. You may have to do the laundry a little more often, but your laundry will be simplified overall.
Use Less Detergent
Did you know you actually don’t need to use as much laundry detergent as they recommend? Most people don’t even look at how much they recommend. They just throw a whole capful in. Not only is this extremely wasteful, it’s actually terrible for your clothes. Not to mention your clothes reek with synthetic fragrances if you don’t use a free and clear detergent.
After watching this video, we stopped using so much detergent. We fill our Tide to the 1 line and that’s it! Our clothes are clean and smell clean. They don’t smell like Tide, they smell fresh. Our clothes also stopped fading as quickly and have lasted about 5 times longer.
Use a Quality Detergent
I love saving money. Spend 5 minutes on this blog and you will see that. However; using a quality detergent was a game changer. I used to buy the cheapest laundry detergent and/or with the fewest chemicals. I had to use at least twice as much detergent to get my clothes looking and smelling clean. It just wasn’t worth it. I switched to Tide and have never looked back. I buy very few name brand items, but laundry detergent is one of them. One way I save money is to stock up on sales and/or one of my various cash back apps, like iBotta or Fetch.
Stop Using Fabric Softener
Unless you have hard water, fabric softener is completely unnecessary. We actually do have terrible hard water. Instead of using a synthetic fabric softener, we use white distilled vinegar. No, your clothes don’t stink like vinegar. I love watching people’s faces when I pour vinegar into my washing machine. They immediately question my sanity, but I remind them, they’ve never once commented that they smelled vinegar when I came around.
Half Your Dryer Sheets or Do Without
Dryer sheets are something else that isn’t necessarily needed. Again, you can buy fragrance free sheets and pull them in half to help with static in your laundry. Better yet, do away with them completely and substitute an alternative: dryer balls. They have wool or silicone. See which you prefer and save yourself some cash!
Ditch the Patterned Socks
How much time have you spent trying to match socks? Probably countless hours over your life. I have a simpler way! Stop buying patterned socks! We started buying plain, black socks for every member of family. No more patterns to match up. If we do get a single sock, it goes in the drawer and eventually finds its mate. Got a hole in one? No worries, eventually he’ll find a friend when another pair loses a mate. I’m telling you, it’s a game changer! Also, black socks don’t appear as dirty as white or colored socks, especially if you have hard wood floors.
Set Laundry Days
Have you ever heard, a load a day keeps the laundry monster away? I’m not going to be that gal. Even being a full-time homemaker, I just can not get a load washed, dried, and folded everyday, so I don’t expect you to. However; setting a laundry schedule will help. We do every other day. It all depends on your family and circumstances. Pick a schedule that won’t have you dreading laundry like my mother. Most people don’t have enough laundry to do a load every day anyways. If you’re doing tiny loads, you’re wasting detergent and water. Find a happy medium.
Enlist Your Kids
My eldest is almost 12. He does his and his brother’s laundry. They are on the same floor as the washer and dryer. He literally has to walk 3 steps from the basket to the washer. Then another 3 steps from the dryer to his room. It just makes sense. He washes and dries the clothes when their basket is full. Then, he sorts the clothes when they’re dry. He and his brother, whom is 8, puts their own clothes away in their drawers. They have a simple closet set up using these drawers. My 3-year-old daughter also helps with laundry and has since she was around a year old. Even the smallest of tots can put clothes in a drawer or in a basket.
Stop Folding
I wish I had known folding was optional when I got married 13 year ago. If you love folding laundry, be my guest, but most people don’t. I’m not even saying to stop folding everything, but avoiding folding some things definitely saves time. My boys don’t fold their laundry and I don’t mind. They end up unfolding everything when they go through their drawers anyways. I fold my husband and I’s clothes, but none of the children’s. Some may avoid folding all together by hanging everything. Or fold this and not that. Make it work for you and your preferences.
No More Sorting & Wash on Cold
Did you know you don’t need to sort clothing by color anymore? Today’s washing machines are pretty smart. You also don’t need to wash on different temperatures. I haven’t sorted by color in over a decade and I reserve warm temperatures for the nasty stuff. Everything else is washed in cold. This will save a ton of money in the long run and not sorting makes laundry time so much quicker!
Own Less Laundry Baskets
How many laundry baskets do you own? Less is more when it comes to laundry baskets. Your laundry basket is your boundary. When it’s full of dirty clothes, we know it’s time to wash laundry. When our basket is full of clean clothes and we can’t add anymore, we know it’s time to fold. Mo baskets, mo problems. Seriously though. When we lived in a single story home, we had one basket. We kept it by the bathroom and our bedrooms. Now we own a bi-level home. We keep one in our bathroom for all 4 of us upstairs and one in the bathroom downstairs, for the two boys. That’s it. No more, no less. Maybe for you, having a small basket in each person’s room works better. Either way, don’t have anymore than you need. Let the basket be your boundary.
Avoid Messes & Spot Treat
Spot treating clothing is a lost art, I’m afraid. In this fast fashion culture, we simply toss clothing instead of taking preventable measures. It is not sustainable, nor is it frugal. It may seem easier, but overall, it’s really not. I try to avoid this to begin with by using bibs, buying dark colored clothing or fabric that doesn’t easily stain for my children.
If something does stain, I will spot treat it with Shout. It’s my favorite spot treatment and a bottle lasts forever. You simply spray it on, let sit, and rinse the garment with hot water. If I’m not immediately going to wash it, I will let it hang on the shower rod so it doesn’t mildew. Then, I toss it into the dirty basket when it’s dry. It takes maybe 5 minutes at most. You decide, spot treat for a few minutes or spend time and money going out buying more clothing.
There you have it! 14 laundry hacks to save you time and money! Do you have any favorite laundry hacks? Let me know down in the comments below!
