Frugal Living Series: Laundry Tips

How much per year does it cost to run your dryer? While the amount per load can seem small, it sure adds up over time. I have five children, so I do approximately 20 loads of laundry per week-that's 1040 per year. I wanted to share some laundry tips that our family uses to help cut down on the cost of laundry.

The Basics: Laundry Soap and Dryer Sheets

Let's start with the basic: Laundry Soap. I was buying the inexpensive Purex, and found that it did a superior job on most loads. Especially icky or smelly loads (my husband, Larry, is a firefighter, and the clothes he wears under his gear reek of smoke) needed a little help, so for those loads I use a higher end soap like Tide. There are numerous recipes online for home made laundry soap, and most of them do a wonderful job, if you have time to make them. Plus, because you choose the soap base, you control any ingredients and scents in your soap-so allergy issues decline. I have switched to making my own laundry soap, again except for those icky or smelly loads. I still use the higher end soap for those, but I only need to buy it once, maybe twice a year. I probably save about $100/year doing this.

Fabric softener is something we all use a lot of. I don't use liquid fabric softener-I don't remember to put it in at the rinse cycle because I'm usually doing something else, and I forget to fill those little balls. I do add vinegar to jeans, and that helps with the stiffness when they are being air dried. I do, however, use the little sheets for the dryer. To help save money, I cut them in thirds. They still work just as well, I don't have static issues and the clothes are nice and soft. I buy the large boxes that do 120 loads, so I'm getting 360 loads out of them (actually more because I don't use them if I'm using the dryer for jeans). If I used them full size, I'd use about 9 boxes a year, at about $5.00 each, for $45.00. Because I cut them in thirds, I use about 3 boxes per year, saving $30.

The hardware: Your Washer and Dryer

Then there's the washer. Right now, because we live in an apartment, we use a compact model. Because we live in a rural area, going to the Laundromat involves a drive, and it costs between $25 and $30 each week to do our laundry, not counting the gas. Even with finance charges, it cost us about the same to buy the compact washer, and once it's paid off, our only cost associated with washing will be water and energy consumption. If you're in the market for a new washer, Consumer Reports suggests a front loading washer, as they use less water, and spin the clothes out better, resulting in a net decrease in drying time. It's what we'll buy when we move into a house.

Now onto drying. Using your dryer can be one of the largest energy costs for a family. Over the course of a year, I probably dry 50% of my laundry. It's much more in warmer months, much less in the winter. I have a clothesline outside, but if it's under about 40 degrees outside then it's useless. That takes out about half of December, all of January, and a good chunk of February. Where we live right now, my clothesline is surrounded on three sides by dirt roads, so when it's windy, which is most of spring, afternoons in summer, and a good chunk of fall, I can't use the clothesline or my clothes come in dirtier than before I washed them! I solved that problem by using two indoor hanging racks (I'll be adding a third one before this winter). The dryer racks can be found at most Walmart or Target stores, many are portable, and they cost around $20. The average dryer uses about 4 KW of energy per load, according to the New Hampshire Public Service website (120 kw hours of usage per month divided by an average of 28 loads per month). Our KWH price is $.14. So to dry one load costs about $.56. Not too bad for one load, but at 1040 loads per year, I'd be spending $582 per year. By drying half my laundry, I'm saving our family $291 per year.

Using these methods has helped me save our family over $400 per year. Now, that's not going to pay for a vacation, or fund our retirement, but it is money that can be used in other areas, such as gas or paying down old debt.