Thrifty Thursday #4 –Coming Clean About Things

It may appear to save money if you give up spending money and time on washing and cleaning – but that is definitely a false economy. However there are some ways to save on laundry costs.

Back in the Ancient Days of the Roman Empire, they tell us, when the weather was fine, women went down to the river and beat their washing on the stones, draped it to dry on the bushes and they sang happily as they worked [Yeah, right – in sunny Italy maybe – I doubt that happened much in wintry windswept Norfolk]

In the more recent past [my childhood] Mum washed on a Monday in a small toploading machine, and boiled some stuff in a copper, and we put things through the mangle and hoped they’d dry on the line – and if not, they were draped on a rack hanging from the kitchen ceiling.

And now, if you believe the TV, Mums wash every day in their automatic washers, and put things straight into tumble dryers and the laundry mountain is never ending. As my mug says “behind every working woman is an enormous pile of unwashed laundry”

I admit, much depends on the composition of your household. If you have teenagers who go out and play rugby and get very muddy, or children who spill food, paint and more on themselves, or spouses who run every other day and get unspeakably sweaty, then you will have dirtier clothes than Ladies Who Lunch and do little else. But we have become obsessed with over-washing things. A dress worn for 3 hours for an evening out is not in the same category as filthy football strip.

Check out the “When to Wash-It” guides on the Real Simple website[ winter & summer]. Less washing obviously saves money!

Do sort laundry. You may get your family to do this into fancy labelled bins as they remove their garments [personally, I just settled with being grateful for the dirty stuff being put in the one bin, and sorted it myself!] But if you keep whites, and darks and coloureds separate, life is so much easier.

If you keep whites separate they stay white. I was always ridiculously smug when my two little poppets trotted smartly off to school in their uniforms, with dazzling white shirts and socks and neat grey skirts.

Detergent is a personal preference. Recipes abound online for “making your own” – but you need to make in bulk, and have somewhere to store it, and many British front-loading machines don’t work well with home concoctions of borax etc. I’d be interested to hear from those of you who do make your own, though.

After trying various products, I am now using NON bio, gentle formula, washing tablets [usually Aldi or Lidl when on offer]– they come in two-tab sachets, but I’ve discovered that 1½ tabs does a washload [for me it is more efficient than powder, which I spill everywhere, or liquid, where I struggle with ‘portion control’] I put load#1 [coloureds/darks] in the machine with 1½tabs, and then put the remaining half tab in a tub-trug of hot water and soak my whites while load #1 is washing. Then I put the whites, into machine with 1 tab and wash them. For serious stains I use Napisan [cheaper than Vanish] but I also keep a regular bar of soap in the Futility Room, and rub collars, cuffs, minor stains with that before the things go into the machine.

I have not tried “Washer Balls”. The reviews on the Lakeland site don’t inspire me to try them! [have you used them? do tell us]

If you just have a few bits of lingerie to handwash, then budget baby shampoo is a great, gentle detergent. And you can always ‘spin dry’ in your salad spinner [Real Simple has more laundry ideas here] I never use fabric conditioner. It reduces the ‘drying power’ of towels, and if laundry is clean, why load it up with synthetic scents?

I have one of these IKEA baskets fixed to the cupboard door under my kitchen sink.

This is my ‘kitchen laundry bin’ where teatowels, dishcloths, table napkins etc go. I really prefer to wash those items separately from clothes as they usually need a ‘proper’ wash as opposed to the ‘quick&cool/economy’ cycle.

Drying laundry – methods in order of preference/economy

1. on the whirligig dryer in the garden
2. over a rack in the bathroom
3. on a small rack hooked on a radiator
4. in the tumble dryer [only in very desperate moments!]

I do understand that some friends, like Jane in Canada, have to contend with below freezing weather and marauding bears so for them a dryer is necessary. Here is a picture of a dryer lint elephant especially for them [recipe for making the modelling dough here]

I continue to be impressed with the efficiency of my new LG washing machine, purchased after the other one exploded, and the Rowenta Steam Iron, now 3½years old and would recommend them to anyone. I try and iron as little as possible, and folding and stacking laundry promptly helps cut down on the ironing [but I admit that as I type this, there is a tubtrug full of clean, but unsorted, underwear and socks languishing in the bathroom waiting to be dealt with]

A few laundry tips – which save time, if not money

• zip up trousers and jeans and turn inside out before washing, and always empty pockets. You may find a tissue, which would otherwise have shredded into fluffy confetti over the whole wash- and possibly even find some forgotten cash
• nylon tights can be rolled into a ball and pushed into the toe of a sock. They do get thoroughly washed [I’m afraid  can’t be bothered with those little zip up lingerie bags]
• remove and clean the detergent dispenser drawer [and its housing] of your machine regularly. You’d be amazed how quickly crud accumulates and turns into mould spots.
• a full load is more economical than a half-full machine – but do not overload it, as it won’t wash so efficiently.
• get to know all the programmes on your machine, so you can choose the optimum one for each laundry load 
• turn down the heat – boilwash is just for nappies!
• watch out for ‘non-colourfast’ items – and handwash them separately. It is not worth the risk, even with ‘colour-catcher’ sheets. Try to avoid buying such things in the first place if you can!

My laundry disasters- when I was expecting Liz, it was a really hot summer, and a friend bought me a pretty red cheesecloth dress. It was cool and floaty – but an inexpensive imported garment. I had a lot of health problems and was confined to bed – and one Saturday Bob volunteered to do the washing. I forgot to warn him to a] sort out the whites and b] that the red dress wasn’t colourfast. We had a few pale pink shirts, tee shirts and trainer socks after that!

Subsequently, in her teens, Liz bought a deep plum coloured acetate nightie. That ALWAYS needed to be handwashed, and EVERY time, the water ran blood red and stained my hands. We called it her ‘Lady Macbeth’ nightdress.

This is before Women’s Lib

My Mum didn’t use Persil – there was something in the formula after the 1960’s which affected her breathing. And I’ve never used biological powders because Steph had bad reactions to them [she even ended up in hospital after wearing a top washed in Ariel by a friend] I am not sure about all the chemicals they are using these days, even if they are supposed to be brilliant.

Anybody out there got any good laundry money-saving tips? And  don’t forget to check the other thrifters listed on the sidebar above