The Frugal Washing Machineby Mary Ann Romans | More from this Blogger 27 Jul 2007 09:36 AM The way you load and set your washer can save you at least 50 percent a load. I love writing about ways to save money on laundry, because it is just one of those expenses that can't be avoided. I do know people who do everything they can to avoid doing laundry, from airing out their clothing instead of washing it between times it is worn (can be frugal) to purchasing more clothing (probably not frugal, although it can be). Although I can do without many things in an effort to be frugal, I just can't skimp on having clean clothes. Because of this, and a family of five, I do laundry at least twice a week. Along the way, I have made every effort to reduce this cost, from hanging laundry to making my own detergent. But here is a real gem. Did you know that the way you load and set your machine can save you money? It is true. Here is how. First try to wash only the largest loads possible. This is where buying extra clothes comes in. It can be frugal if it allows you to wash larger loads. Fill your washer first before adding clothes or detergent. I used to stuff the clothes in, add the detergent and then turn the washer on. But this is less efficient. Filling the washer first will allow you to use less detergent (save $), use powdered detergent instead of liquid (save $) and will get the clothes cleaner. If you have an auto soak feature on your washer, use it. Otherwise let the washer fill, add the detergent and then add the clothing. Let the washer agitate for a few minutes (you can sort your next load) and then stop the machine. Let the clothing soak for at least 30 minutes. Again you will save on the amount and type of detergent, and eliminate most of the need for pre-treaters (save $). Mary Ann Romans also writes for the Computing Blog here at Families.com where she shares everything from the latest news on technology to cool downloads and fun websites. Related Articles: Space Age System: Wash Your Clothes without Detergent? Leave Your Appliances Open to Save Money Learn more about Mary Ann Romans  Mary Ann Romans is a freelance writer and mother of three children. She lives in Pennsylvania with her husband, the kids and a 16-pound cat. Relevantfrugal tags User Comments  lavatea (3371) 27 Jul 2007 11:50 AMSo you don't pretreat first? Do you check the stained stuff on its way out of the washer and then pretreat before a second wash if necessary?  Valorie Delp (49340) 27 Jul 2007 03:13 PMI do that! I have so many little kids that I was spending an arm and a leg on stain treaters thinking that I had to pre-treat everything. . .if it stained it got Shouted, or Oxi-cleaned, or Bized. So now, I wash them first. Then I check them on the way out. I'm amazed at what I often think won't come out and actually does. If it does come out stained, instead of drying it, I go home and soak it in a bucket of water + 1/4 cup Cascade and 1/4 cup color safe clorox.  Mary Ann Romans (26791) 30 Jul 2007 04:55 AMCascade does work wonders! I find that the only stains I really need to pretreat are blood and car grease. For blood, if I catch the stain right away, then rinsing in cold water gets it right out. jonesx6 (1606) 30 Jul 2007 05:44 AMI never pre-treat any of our clothes b/c I use Tide. lol It works great in getting old stains out. I had a white shirt that had Children's Motrin on it for 5 days. I threw it in the washer w/ Tide, pulled it out and no sign of the Motrin. Tide is expensive but it saves me time and money. Laura Valorie Delp (49340) 30 Jul 2007 07:13 AMLOVE Tide. I had recently discovered that Tide was worth the expense. I buy it in bulk while it is on sale (w/ coupons of course) or I buy it at Costco! Soooooo worth it. And since we do our laundry at the laundromat it's even more convenient.  Julie Gentry (5915) 30 Jul 2007 03:48 PMI only use 1/2 the amount of recommended detergent. Hasn't made any difference in the cleanliness. I also use different detergents -- a name-brand one for my son's pants that have been worn for four days straight :-(, a generic for most of our clothes, and a baby-soft one for dh's expensive shirts. Mary Ann Romans (26791) 30 Jul 2007 04:46 PMI agree with everyone on the Tide. I also use All free and clear on the baby's clothes, and it still seems to get all of the stains right out. BJs has a giant box of Tide. It normally goes for $25, but sometimes they offer store coupons which can be combined with manufacturers coupons. I don't remember the cost per wash, but when I calculated it out, the big box saved a lot. jonesx6 (1606) 31 Jul 2007 06:55 AMI also use less detergent then what is recommended. I have never had any problems getting stains out either. Laura Mary Ann Romans (26791) 31 Jul 2007 09:26 AMow much less do you all use? I use the measurement for a small load on a supersize load. Kevin Delp (235) 31 Jul 2007 07:37 PMThat's what I do. . gosh we could start ourselves a little laundry forum here. Mary Ann Romans (26791) 01 Aug 2007 06:30 PMYes we could, Kevin! Anyone have any tips for stains that are set in, let's say on hand me down baby clothes? Valorie Delp (49340) 02 Aug 2007 07:47 AMLOL! Woops that was me but I was editing a post by Kevin and forgot to log out! Anyhow, I swear by the cascade/color safe clorox stuff. I've never had a problem getting stuff out using that. Mary Ann Romans (26791) 02 Aug 2007 09:38 AMAnd here I was about to congratulate Kevin on his laundry skills! Valorie--I am going to try your recipe. It opens up a lot of frugal possibilites--hand me downs, garage sale bargains, thrift store clothing, etc. Valorie Delp (49340) 04 Aug 2007 08:12 AMTry it! It's pretty amazing stuff. LOL And Kevin--although I love the man dearly--stinks at doing laundry. . .and shopping. I don't let him near the laundry! Mary Ann Romans (26791) 04 Aug 2007 08:27 AMI have a whole little pile of stuff down in my basement that is just ready for your recipe. I'm out of Tide--the powdered stuff just hasn't been coming up on sale lately. Yesterday, I saved 30 percent off of the grocery bill with coupons and sales. it probably would have been more if my husband didn't grab some impulse purchases. angelaira1 (370) 05 Aug 2007 08:11 PMThis might sound insane, but I moved into an apartment two months ago that has no washer or dryer. I have been hand washing my clothes ever since, and I actually love it. I took the space that would have held the washer and dryer and put up a ten dollar drying rack and added my old towel warmer, so the space is warm and the clothes dry fast. I was all of my clothes and my 6 year old son's clothes as we take them off at night. I just fill the sink, add a couple squirts of spray n wash, scrub out any stains, let them soak for a few minutes, rinse, wring, and hang. I have noticed that my clothes look a lot better, they never get damaged in the wash anymore (my clothes used to get buttons ripped off, or shrink, or come out misshapen, or whatever. I was always behind on the laundry because I would wait until the load was large enough to run, and I needed far more clothes. Now my clothes are always hanging in my closet or on the drying rack ready to go. Things are truly clean, and I pay a lot more attention to each item. I used to hate doing laundry, and now I LOVE it!! The time I spend washing items gives me time to think and plan my day, and not to mention, I don't use tide or fabric softener or anything like that anymore. I save money in those areas and on the energy that would be required to run those machines. Towels are a little tougher to do, but I just do the same thing and use my fabric steamer to make them soft after they are dry. Overall I never would have imagined doing this, and now that I am forced to I wouldn't have it any other way.  QueenAngie Central Illinois, USA (59956) 05 Aug 2007 09:34 PMYou'll never guess, but that is what my Mom did 59 years ago when they were newlyweds and had no washer or dryer. Except back then, everything had to be ironed after it dried. Mom always said it was easier because she got any stains out quicker. They lived in an apt and had no place to put a w/d. Great tips! Mary Ann Romans (26791) 06 Aug 2007 04:23 AMHand washing and air drying definitely helps your clothes last longer. The dryer is notoriously bad for clothing. In fact, I wrote an earlier article about that fact: http://frugal.families.com/blog/make-your-clothes-last-longer Way to go Angelaria! Mary Ann Romans (26791) 06 Aug 2007 04:24 AMI grew up in NYC and we didn't have a washing machine, either, QueenAngie! My mother handwashed everything. You can still get a washing board (it heps you scrub out the dirt) at a few little discount stores in Brooklyn that I know about. Valorie Delp (49340) 06 Aug 2007 05:05 AMMy husband used to not get paid in the summer and that's what we did to save in the summer. However, I honestly just can't swing it anymore. I don't know how women who had lots of children did it. Doing laundry for 7 people is a lot of stains to get out and a lot of wringing to do! Mary. . .the super duper stain removal stuff works best if you don't overload too many clothes. I can usually do 3 to 5 pieces of toddler clothing in one large bucket or one adult piece in one large bucket. But you can redo it IF the stain doesn't come out the first time. That hardly ever happens to me. Mary Ann Romans (26791) 06 Aug 2007 08:37 AMThanks for the tips, Val. Perhaps those large families wore there clothing longer between washings? What do you all think? amandapace (20) 11 Aug 2008 07:04 PMI don't think I've ever used the "recommended amount" of detergent! Of course they want you to use too much so that you have to buy more, lol! I read an article recently (can't remember where, sorry) that said Tide didn't do any better at washing pretreated clothes than plain water...I can't use very cheap detergent because DH gets a rash, but I switch between several brands, depending on what's on sale and has coupons. I can't say that I pretreat much, either. I usually give those coupons away. I just never have a problem with staining, even though I only wash in cold water. Mary Ann Romans (26791) 12 Aug 2008 05:00 AMWow Amandapace, I would love to see that article about Tide versus plain water. Do you remember where it was? Consumer Reports rated Tide very well, and so far I have to agree with them. I do know that even with reducing the amount of detergent (I usually use half or less) a lot of it still stays in the laundry. Try washing laundry with just the plain water, and you'll still see a lot of suds! Good job on shopping around on prices. And, did you know that you can make your own detergent? Happy2BHome (10) 24 Aug 2008 08:44 PMWe are a homeschooling family of 11. For us, hand washing is too time consuming. We have cut back on the laundry we have to do by wearing our clothes more than 1 day. Sunday's clothes get worn to church again on Wed then get washed. Play clothes get washed only if they are really dirty. We wash more in summer than winter. If we have to leave the house, we change into fresh clothes but then change again when we come home. We also rinse and wring our wash cloths for baths and dish washing so they can be used again. We have monogrammed towels for bathing. We are clean when we get out of the shower so why wash them? We hang them on hooks instead. I have some bed wetters. We rinse the bed sheets on a line outside then air dry them. It saved about 6 loads of wash a week. I do wash them in the washer once a week. It is not ideal, but we do what we have to do. I re-thought my laundry washing when my mother in law told me she had 2 school dresses that she wore all week long. She changed into play clothes (the same ones every day) when she got home. Mary Ann Romans (26791) 25 Aug 2008 03:52 AMWhile on vacation I did a lot of hand washing, and it wasn't as bad as I thought. I did mostly small stuff, such as underwear, shorts and t-shirts. Then we hung them to dry. I can't imagine hand washing jeans, though. Happy, I am so impressed with your ability to manage all of that laundry! Community Tags clothes, frugal, laundry, laundry soap, saving money, Tide, washing machine, washer Discuss this article
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