On my quest to live frugally this year, I am hoping to discover little changes in my lifestyle that could add up to big savings in the long run. I have a huge pile of laundry I am trying to conquer today. With a family of 4, a dog, and a baby who has just entered the frequent spit up stage, we have a lot of laundry! I look for good deals on my favorite detergent & use coupons for it when I have them. I also use dryer sheets, but this is an area I can save money on. I have one box of dryer sheets left. Today I am going to cut those sheets in half to get double the use out of them. I am also going to purchase dryer balls, which means no more need to purchase dryer sheets! I don't use fabric softener, but apparently dryer balls eliminate the use of that as well. From what I've researched online, if you gave a family of 2, you could probably get by with 2 balls. Larger families, or if you want fluffier laundry, add more. I am going to start with 4 balls. I'm going to try these Nelie's Dryer Balls. They got good reviews, and come with a 2 year buy-back guarantee. I'm also buying these from Amazon, as we get Amazon Gift Cards periodically & I am earning Swagbucks to get Amazon Gift Cards as well. (I'll most likely do another blog on Swagbucks - I'm still pretty new to the system & learning about it more!) Living in sunny California, I could save even more money if I dry my clothes on a clothesline & save the energy of the dryer. But, sometimes when trying to live a simple, green & frugal life all together, I need to make the decision to go for convenience every so often to save my lifestyle from getting too crazy busy. I do have a small clothesline installed on my porch as well as some hanging lines in my laundry room to hang dry stuff that cannot go in the dryer. Maybe one day when the kids are a little older I'll have some more time on my hands to utilize a clothesline, but for now I choose the dryer! On a trip to Greece we stayed in an apartment in Athens and got to experience using a clothesline on the rooftop as the did not have a dryer. I actually liked the experience! The clothes came out a little crunchy, but I'm sure there is a way to prevent that if I ever go that route. At least we have front loading HE, Energy Star machines to save some energy. I also try to run loads that are completely full, which is no problem for us! I keep a bag for dirty dust rags & once they accumulate to fill the bag, I then do one big load of dust rags only. Now how much money will these balls really save? I found one article that put dryer balls to the test - they found the following: "What about the cost savings to you? We put a calculator to it. Let's say you dry six loads of laundry a week. The cost to do that is roughly $100 per year. But, when you use the dryer balls and cut your time by 15%, you save $15. On top of that, you will not have to buy dryer sheets, at approximately $20 a year. A $35 savings over the next three years will give you a total savings of $105." http://www.kcbd.com/Global/story.asp?S=4572325
I do more than 6 loads of laundry a week, which means we get to save even more! Subtract the cost of the dryer balls themselves, and we still save. Every little bit helps.
Happy Laundering!
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