According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the average American family goes through 400 loads of laundry each year. That’s more than one load every single day! While using a washer and dryer helps clothes get clean faster than ever before, due to the cost of electricity, water and detergent, doing laundry is also more expensive. Here are some tips on how to save money on laundry and reduce your cost per load.
Only Wash Full Loads
Washing full loads of laundry instead of partially full loads uses less energy. When your washer and dryer are full you’ll run fewer cycles. If you need to do laundry but you don’t have a full load, change your wash settings to use less water. If you’re using a machine at a laundromat like Zoom Express Laundry, save yourself a trip until you have a full load or go half on a machine with a friend.
Don’t Over Dry
Take your clothes out of the dryer as soon as they’re ready. Continuing to run the dryer when your clothes are already dry wastes energy. A lot of modern dryers contain moisture sensors that shut off the machine as soon as the clothes are dry instead of relying on a timer. Materials with heavy fabrics like jeans or towels take longer to dry. Dry these clothes separately or hang them up to dry so they don’t take up additional time in the dryer.
Clean Your Lint Filter
After each load of laundry, remove the filter and throw away the lint. Getting rid of lit helps air circulate better and clothes dry faster. Preventing lint buildup not only helps you save money on laundry, but it also helps prevent house fires, keeping you and your family safe.
Change Your Detergent
Expensive, name brand products aren’t always the best products. You can get pretty close to the same results using a cheaper brand that you’d get with a name brand detergent. You can save money on laundry even more by making your laundry detergent. The Internet is filled with DIY laundry detergent recipes. It’ll take you some time to make but you won’t be constantly running to the store to buy more.
Use Less Laundry Detergent
Another solution to save on laundry detergent costs is to simply use less of it. Most people use more detergent than they need. They fill the cap or scoop up instead of using the recommended line. You can also adjust the amount of detergent you use based on how dirty your clothes are. Dirtier loads of laundry including workout clothes or the ones you cut the grass in will need more laundry detergent to get clean than the t-shirt you wore once and threw in the laundry pile. In some cases, you can get your laundry clean without using any detergent at all. Therefore, if your clothes aren’t that dirty, use less detergent, or none at all.
Do Fewer Loads
If you’re doing your laundry at a laundromat, you can’t control much in terms of the price you pay per load. However, you can still reduce how much money you spend on laundry per year by washing fewer loads. You can do this by only washing full loads and wearing your clothes multiple times before throwing them in the laundry basket. This tip to save money on laundry also saves you money on buying more clothes because washing less helps clothes last longer.
Use Cold Water
Most of the energy used by a washing machine is for heating the water. If your clothes aren’t incredibly dirty, using cold water works just as well. Overall, this is one of the tips that works the best. It doesn’t take any additional time and it doesn’t reduce how clean your clothes get. Using cold water saves you energy which saves you money.
The more of these tips you use, the more money you’ll save. Even apartment and dorm residents can take advantage of these tips to save money on laundry. Looking for a nearby laundromat? Find a Zoom Express Laundry near you!