For many families (especially ones that do laundry often), knowing how to save money on laundry products can mean the difference between a few extra dollars in the budget for a treat, or gathering pennies to make it until the next payday. While coupons are a highly popular way of saving money, this list won’t include those. Not everyone enjoys using coupons, or can find deals that make it worth their time and expense clipping them. We are going to focus on more practical ways to stretch your laundry budget farther!
How To Save Money On Laundry Products
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1. Make your own detergent and stain remover: With dozens of recipes online, this is one easy way to save money on your laundry detergent without couponing. It is only financially useful though when you do make large batches and use as directed. Many of these types of recipes won’t have the scents or stain removing power that brands do. To add scent you can include some essential oils, and for stain remover use a homemade stain remover or a scoop of a product like Oxyclean in your laundry on a regular basis.
2. Cut your dryer sheets in half or make your own fabric softener. There are many ways to reduce static and make your clothes feel soft without buying a fabric soften. You could make your own wool dyer balls (One Good Thing by Jillee), DIY fabric softener crystals (Happy Money Saver) or even DIY dryer sheets (Living A Special Kind of Life). There are also tons of recipes online for this!
3. Buy in bulk at a wholesale club. Compare prices to your local retail stores as well as the cost it would be after coupons. The bulk of the time the club store brand will be $2-$3 cheaper for the same amount and just as good quality.
4. Order through Amazon Subscribe & Save. Many household items like laundry detergent, fabric softener and stain remover can be purchased for a significant discount when using Amazon Subscribe & Save. Watch for sales on your favorite brands for the best savings.
5. Use ¼-1/2 recommended laundry detergent amount. Most loads of laundry don’t require near as much soap as the package says. Make sure to actually measure properly as well as cut that amount in half with liquid and powdered detergents. If it doesn’t see to work as well for you, simply increase in increments until it does. Kids play clothes or work clothes that get dirtier on a regular basis (from dirt, oils, etc.) will require more soap to wash. Things like pajamas or even towels that aren’t getting dirt on them will require less.
6. Line dry clothing when possible. While this is more common during summer months when you can take the laundry outside to hang, you can still utilize space indoors to hand clothing to dry year round. Shower curtain rods make a great place to hang clothing to dry. You can also hang a line inside in your laundry room for this purpose. While it may take longer to dry, it is still a savings.
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7. Don’t overload your washer or dryer. Stuffing too many items into either your washer or dryer can make them less effective. In the washer you’ll find clothing not getting as clean. In the dryer it will take longer to dry resulting in more utility expenses.
8. Wear items more than once before washing. There are some things that simply can be worn a few times before washing. Many people wear denim 2-4 times in between washes. Things like a suit or dress only worn for a few hours on Sunday can go longer between washings. Towels can be hung after drying off and used 2-3 days between washings. If something gets dirty between washings, wash it. Otherwise stretch these items out a bit before washing them to save on some expenses.
Knowing how to save money on laundry supplies is often more about what you do to limit your laundry than it is about the supplies themselves. Take advantage of these tips to lower your laundry budget!
This post contains affiliate links to Amazon, which means that I may earn a small commission from some of the links in this post. Please see our Disclosure Page for more information.
You might also be interested in: DIY Scented Fabric Softener Crystals
Great tips! Have been making laundry powder and liquid fabric softener and it works well. Wonderful areas to save money. Thanks for sharing!
I read this tip online before and it really works: use balls of aluminum foil in the dryer in place of fabric softener sheets. I use them over and over.
Most people wash items way too often. Seems to be an ‘American’ thing. There’s no reason to wash bath towels after only one use. They’re being used on a clean body for heavens sake! As for clothing. I don’t care how many times I wear it, if it’s not dirty or if I wasn’t sweating while wearing it, it’s not getting washed (undies the exception of course).
🙂 you are so right! I think most people wash too often and aren’t aware of how much detergent they use when the do wash!
Washing clothes and linens (that are not really dirty yet) also saves wear and tear on the items and helps them last longer.