The cost of taking care of your clothes, in terms of washing, drying, repairs, combined with the costs of purchasing new clothing can be daunting. Here are some ideas i have compiled that should help you not only minimize the cost, but also help the environment too.
1. Use the Delicate Setting:
The majority of washing machines have a delicate/gentle setting that should be considered for use. Many people tend to just throw there clothes in the wash and use the “normal” setting. This not only typically is longer than the gentle setting, but it also typically uses warm or hot water, even in the rinse cycle. While the cost may seem minuscule it does add up, not to mention the gentler treatment of fabrics does enable them to last longer. Now i am not suggesting that you should NEVER use the normal, or even Cotton towel setting. My point is simply that your everyday clothing probably does not need to be scrubbed in boiling water, unless your every day activities include rolling in mud.
2. Shop for Basics:
I love fashion with the best of them. I even attended a local college to take classes on fashion design one summer when i was in high school. For a long time, buying things that i thought were attractive, and ‘interesting’. However every time i bought something i simply bought for how it looked i would wear it for a month or two before becoming bored of it or deciding that it was no longer giving the message i wanted to portray. I did this for many year, until i finally realized that buying basics was probably the best route for me. Basic clothing are not only typically cheaper, but they are also ‘timeless’ so i don’t have to worry about me getting bored of my clothing. The best part about basics, it forces people to get to know you rather than just judge you by how you look.
3. Make your own Detergent:
Currently my family uses Clorox green works laundry detergent. It ends up calculating to about 0.26 $/oz, but more importantly it costs 0.39 $/load. This may not seem like a massive amount, but when you are doing about 4 loads of laundry per week the price does start to add up. In contrast if you decide to make your own liquid detergent the price is drastically reduced. Assuming that it is your first time making the detergent your costs will be higher than typical. Some of the items are only available in larger sizes, however they will enable you to make multiple batches of soap. After the first batch, the only recurrent cost is the cost of a bar of soap. This results in a cost of 0.01 $/oz, which translates to 0.02 $/load. A considerable savings over the store brand, even with the added initial investment. While i have not as of yet tried this my family is planing to after we run out of the detergent we currently have. If you are interested in an easy to follow recipe for laundry soap it can be found here.
4. Wear Clothes Multiple Times:
To many this may seem gross, but i promise you that after a short while you stop being disgusted by it. For the majority of my clothes i try to wear them multiple times between washings. Shirts i tend to wear about 2 times, and Pants or sweaters i will wear as many as 4-5 times before washing them. Obviously there are exceptions if i have gotten sweaty i will wash the clothes after one wearing (so my work out clothes fall in this category), and items that have to be dry cleaned i will wash even less often (for example, i have some suit jackets that i wear about 1 time a week, these I only wash one time a year).
5. Rethink your Laundry:
Many clothing have labels that specify that you should dry clean them. This is not always the case. With knits such as cashmere, i would still recommend you dry cleaning. But, some items you can throw in the was with no problem so long as you hang them to dry. I have done this with suit jackets and silk shirts on several occasions. Additionally you can purchase one of those at home dry cleaning kits. These work exceptionally well so long as you follow the directions, and these enable you to clean clothes at home. Further more, drying your clothes on drying racks is a great option. These not only cut the cost of running the dryer, but they also help maintain the clothes for longer by preventing exposure to the heat of the dryer.
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