It is important to live as frugal as you can when living with a chronic illness. It is possible to cut costs in every part of your life and home, so here are frugal living tips for the laundry.

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Frugal Living Tips for the Laundry

One of the facts I point out in many of my posts is how expensive it can be when living with a health condition. The office visits, emergency room visits, prescription medicine, and other ‘out of the ordinary’ costs related to a health condition can accrue a lot of bills and will become, unfortunately, a necessary expense.

Tackling these expenses each month has made me more aware of my family’s spending habits. I’ve learned to change my ‘got to have it all now’ habits into a more frugal ‘do we really need it’ habit. We have noticed huge differences with these small changes as well as earned some extra income along the way.

After a successful post of frugal living tips in the kitchen, I decided to cover frugal living tips for the laundry. Here are 11 laundry tips to save money.

Homemade Laundry Detergent

Make homemade laundry detergent or use concentrated laundry detergent. Remember, less is more! Want to take it a step further and ditch the detergent altogether? Then try out these washing balls! I’ve been using them for the last few months and love them!

Shorter Washing Cycle

Use the shorter washing cycle when washing clothes. It will get your clothes just as clean as the regular cycle, but will drastically cut your water and electric costs.

Use a Clothes Rack

After washing your clothes, hang them on a clothes rack for a few hours to get them almost completely dry then toss them in the dryer for a few minutes to get out the wrinkles. This will cut your drying time from one hour to ten minutes. Want to hang them inside and save on space? Try a collapsible indoor drying rack.

Auto Dry

Use the ‘auto dry’ feature when drying clothes to save on electricity.

Ditch the Dryer Sheets

Use Woolzies – wool dryer balls – as a reusable natural fabric softener. Wool dryer balls soften naturally with no chemicals or synthetics (perfect for sensitive skin and babies). They shorten drying time, lasts for over a thousand loads, saves energy, and are eco-friendly. Add some essential oils to add a touch of scent for a calming effect, but when using essential oils be sure to use the cool air or air dry option – no heat.

Do a Full Load

Wait to wash clothes when you have a full load rather than a few small loads. Combining smalls loads, when possible, saves on water and electricity.

Use an energy-saving washer and dryer

Most electric companies will give you a rebate or discount on your electric services if using an energy-saving washer and dryer (and fridge, too!).

Laundry Day

Set a designated day to wash clothes, and make the family aware of that day. This will prevent small loads being washed several times a week.

Cold Wash

Use cold water when washing clothes. Coldwater will get the clothes just as clean and will save thousands of gallons of water annually and reduce the energy used to heat up the water.

Ditch Fabric Softener

Use vinegar as a liquid fabric softener in your washing machine.