In “Saving Your Clothes Equals Saving Money” Part I, I convinced you all that by taking care of you clothing-washing less frequently, taking care of stains and making mending easy-you would increase the life of the clothes and save yourself money!

But I’m not done yet! There are still more money saving ways to be discovered in laundry care! I’m going to look at the actual process of washing and drying your clothes and show you where money can be saved there.

Remember-Washing clothes costs money. It is estimated that the average family of 4 spends around $300 a year washing and drying their clothing.

How can you cut down those costs? We already discussed washing less, now let’s look at drying less!

Photo by WaveCult

Do you use a clothes line? If not, you really should consider it. When you bypass the dryer you can save a lot of electricity. That’s both frugal and green. Additional benefits are your clothes come out smelling wonderful, the sun naturally bleaches out some stains, and you reduce wear and tear on your clothing (hey folks, that lint in your dryer trap used to be part of your clothing!).

Some folks-like my husband-complain that towels and jeans are too stiff when dried on the line. Fine. You can always throw them in the dryer for just a few minutes to “fluff” them.

Photo by Fragglerawker_03

Speaking of the dryer-you don’t have to buy dryer sheets. You can make something that works just as well for pennies. Just buy the biggest bottle of cheapo fabric softener you can find. Fill a container (I use an old cottage cheese container-hey, it doesn’t have to be pretty) with a mixture of 1 part softener to 6 parts water. Then take a couple of celloloid sponges (dollar store is great for these) and cut them into about 6 or 8 peices each. Toss into the liquid and let them live there. When get ready to dry a load of laundry, just wring out one of the little sponges and toss it in the dryer. Viola! One bottle of softener has lasted me over 2 years now.

When I fold the laundry I just take the dry sponge and throw it back in the container. I’ve read that some folks like to put their mix in a spray bottle and either spray it on a washcloth and throw it in, or else just spray it onto the laundry.

Another way to save is to look at your laundry detergent. Are you using too much? Have you ever actually read the box or bottle to see how much you are supposed to use for each load? A lot of times the scoops or measures in the lid are bigger than what you need for a load. It’s very deceptive. Of course, the manufacturer wants you to use up the detergent faster and come back to buy more. You can experiment with using less detergent until you find the smallest amount you need to still make a load clean. Then take a permenant marker and mark your scoop. I don’t use this tip, because for the last 2 years I have been making my own detergent.

Now I know making your own detergent sounds extreme and difficult, but it really isn’t. I make the powdered type, and there are only 3 ingredients.

1 Cup Grated Soap *
1/2 Cup Washing Soda (NOT baking soda)
1/2 Cup Borax

Mix together and use 1 Tablespoon per load, 2 Tablespoons if it is a really soilded load.

This laundry soap really works well, and YES-you only need a tablespoon. I use it in cold water and have never had a problem with it dissolving. An added benefit of homemade detergent? You avoid a lot of the dyes/perfumes etc that cause people with allergies problems. Isn’t it nice to know exactly what is going into the product you are using?

There are also versions of this recipe available to make liquid laundry soap-which apparently comes out more like a gel. Personally I think powdered is less messy and takes up less room, but if you are interested in the liquid you can find a recipe HERE.

Keep your eye out for my video tutorial on how to make your own laundry soap-coming soon!

New York mama Jenn has been blogging about ways to “Use what you have, get creative an save!” over at Frugal Upstate since 2006. As one of the “Eleven Moms” (Walmart Money Saving Gurus), she creates fun and informative vlogs on a variety of money saving topics.