A quick laundry blitz

When it comes to laundry, I am lazy. At any given time, we will have a basket of clean clothes, yet to be folded and/or at least one basket of dirty clothes. (Realistically, it is all of the above.)

Sure, laundry is a chore. And even with my machines, I find ways to be even lazier about it. I wash everything in cold water on the delicate cycle. Occasionally, if I have a load of just towels and/or bed linens, I'll switch to a warmer wash cycle. This is partly because the cold wash saves money, but also saves me from having to separate the laundry, and then expending precious brain cells to re-set the controls on the machine. I also dry everything on low-heat, taking care to remove the "dry flat" items before starting the washer.

We were walking around a home improvement store the other weekend, and came across their dented/damaged/opened box appliances. Saw an eco-friendly (labelled as such on the unit) steam dryer, super fancy, marked down from about $1000 to $300. With our holiday gift cards burning a hole in our pocket, we stopped in our tracks. We didn't have enough to cover the dryer, but enough to make it an even better deal.

This dryer was seducing me. We looked at it, saw a few scratches that were cosmetic, and walked away to give ourselves time to think. By the time we had made it back to the dryer, we'd more or less decided that while yes, this was a great price... it wasn't a good deal for us. I hardly use the features on my current dryer, which works fine, by the way. So, that is two strikes against super-fancy-new-dryer. The other reasons for not buying it? Didn't have the cash available to make the difference between gift cards and price. And, steam dryers need water in and a water out connections. We didn't know if our set up had the capability, or if we had the ability to install it. All in all, this added up to a great price that wasn't a good deal for us.

That trip, we had fun walking around, and discussing plans, but ended up not buying anything. Just ideas. I don't regret not buying the dryer in the least.

Do you have any good "walked away from it" purchase stories?

Laundry detergent!

In the course of my normal blog and article readings, I've come across a few recipes for making your own soap (cold-pressed), shampoo bar, laundry (this one has a dish soap recipe, too) detergent (and here), and even your own deodorant. (this link has everything from deodorant to laundry liquid to window cleaner to furniture/wood polish)

Imagine my disbelief, and giddiness at seeing this article in Yahoo Finance Wednesday morning. It starts off talking about how we tend to use too much detergent when we launder our clothes, since as formulas have become more concentrated, people haven't adjusted down the amount they dump in the wash. Another blogger has a great post about this article: Everyday Frugal, Everyday Green.

Aside from wanting to avoid the ingredients in some detergents, there are other reasons to check how much detergent you use versus how much you actually need. If you pour too much into the washer,  will you go through the bottle quicker, and end up buying more. This means that you'll be spending more money than you have to, and buying more plastic bottles (or cardboard boxes) to throw away. Also, if you use too much detergent, it may not all get rinsed out, and you will end up with soapy residue in your clothes. This may not adversely affect you, but it may irritate your skin.

What makes me happy about this article is that the author didn't just talk about ways to reduce your detergent usage, she actually tried making her own laundry detergent, giving a recipe to follow should her readers want to give it a go.

I haven't made my own detergent yet, although the prospect intrigues me. I just monitor how much I pour into the wash and try to buy the "good" stuff.

Have you recently re-evaluated your detergent usage? Or have you tried to make/do you make your own laundry soap?