5 Ways to Cut Your Household Costs - Laundry

In this age of austerity, it is common sense to look at ways to reduce our household expenditure and energy consumption. While doing the laundry is an essential chore, there is no reason it has to be more expensive than necessary. Here are five tried and tested ways to cut laundry costs.

Wash at lower temperatures

In the normal scheme of things, it's unnecessary to wash all items at high temperatures. Some people prefer to wash sheets and towels at 60 C, but most items of clothing can be washed at lower temperatures. Even if you wash at a warm temperature, you can use a cold rinse which will still significantly cut back on energy consumption. Experts advise that a 30 C cycle saves 40% more energy than a 40 C cycle. Be aware that washing at lower temperatures may not be as effective at stain removal, so using a cold water detergent is advisable.

Use cheaper detergents

There's no reason to use expensive branded products when according to several industry experts store branded detergents are just as effective. It's easy to become complacent when choosing products and go with what we've always used or known, but shopping around and comparing price per wash really does pay off when it comes to laundry detergents. So try a cheaper detergent and find yourself pleasantly surprised by the savings you could make.

Use less detergent

When comparing that price per wash, be aware that you don't need to use as much detergent as manufacturers' recommend! Blindly following instructions without questioning doesn't always pay off, and this is one excellent example. Manufacturers give us guidelines on how much detergent to use to sell more product, when in reality half the amount will clean as effectively. Not only does this save you money, but experts point out that using excessive amounts of detergent can actually damage your clothing causing the fibres to hold on to dirt.

Wash a full load

It may sound like common sense, but washing a full load each time instead of two half loads will make significant savings in energy and water consumption and therefore utility bills. Experts advise that a full load can use 25% to 50% less energy than two half loads. Be careful not to overload your washing machine however as this will prevent effective cleaning and could damage the machine.

Use an energy efficient washing machine

By law, all new washing machines must display a European Energy Label which gives information about the energy efficiency of the appliance. Ratings range from A+++ to G, with A+++ the most energy efficient and G the least. These labels also give more detailed information on the energy consumption per cycle, as well as information on load capacity, washing performance, spin drying performance and noise levels for both wash and spin cycles. It's well worth giving these labels consideration when buying a new appliance as they could end up saving you significant amounts of money over its lifetime, as well as cutting down on carbon dioxide emissions.

You may also want to look out for the European Ecolabel, a voluntary label that only the best washing machines meeting strict criteria can carry. These criteria include having better energy consumption than the European Energy Label rating A, water consumption of less than 12 litres per kilogram laundry, and noise levels of less than 56 decibels during washing and 76 decibels during spinning.

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Household Hints and Helpers Using Vinegar

There was a time when the majority of the cleansers that people used in and around their homes were made from the supplies they had. They could not have afforded to purchase commercial cleansers even if these items had been available. So they learned to use the things they had to clean the dirt and grime away.

Vinegar was one of the items that were easily purchased at the stores that were available to shop in, or the ingenious people could allow apples to ferment and create their own apple cider vinegar. Apple cider vinegar was used to treat ailments of the body, to doctor the livestock, to cook with, and to clean the house.

Vinegar is fantastic at cutting grease and grime out of clothing. So the substance was mixed in with the wash water on wash day to help get the clothing cleaner with less scrubbing. The pungent liquid also helped to remove odors from the clothing. During the Wild West days people wore their clothing for several days at a time before they were washed. The clothing took on odors that were hard to get out on wash day, so the aspiring housewives would put vinegar into the rinse water and this would eliminate some of those odors.

The floors inside the home were often scrubbed with sand because the sand could remove the grime. Sand is abrasive so the women would pour the sand on the floor and rub it into the wood grain using a broom. Then they swept the sand out of the house and used a vinegar rinse on the floors to make them smell better.

Pretty girls have always liked pretty clean hair. One of the ways that the girls made their hair smell nice for long periods of time was to use this magic odor killing liquid when they rinsed. If they wanted their hair to feel soft they would use rain water they gathered in barrels to rinse their hair with. The rain water had a conditioning effect and left the hair soft and supple.

This magic liquid was used as an antiseptic to wash wounds before they were bandaged. It effectively killed bacteria and helped to prevent infections from setting in.

People drank small doses of this liquid every day to help improve their digestion. It helps individuals that have a history of indigestion and stomach disorders.

Because the vinegar is so good at removing odors women frequently mixed it with water to create a feminine hygiene product.

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