Frugal & Thrifty : Saving Money on Laundry

Laundry Today, Or Naked Tomorrow !

Since I live in an apartment building I am forced to share the facilities with 10 other floors. That's 10 washers and 10 dryers to about 100 apartments. Ridiculous if you ask me. What's even more ridiculous you ask? The cost of doing laundry.
Recently they put in new machines and raised the already high price to another $0.50 more per load.
Now it costs almost $5.00 per load of laundry!
We use to budget $20/month for laundry and that would get us about 2 loads a week. Now, since we cant expand our laundry budget further, the $20/month only gets us about 4 - 5 loads.

How could you possibly cut back, you may ask. Here are some tricks I have acquired:

Bigger loads than I would regularly do

In moderation of course!

Hanging some of my clothes on a drying rack

Only certain things.

Taking a load of clothes to my parents or sisters house when possible

I've worked out a pretty sweet deal with her!

Trick # 1: Before the laundry price was raised, I would sort the laundry more thoroughly than usual. It was towels one load, lights, darks, sheets, gentle cycle, etc. Now, it is much more simple.

Colours ~ Whites ~ Bedding

That's it. And frankly, even if the laundry was always free, I don't think I would go back to the old way of sorting my laundry. This is simple and very convenient. Everything still gets clean.

Trick # 2: The drying rack. It has been a complete lifesaver. I've had it forever, but only pulled it out for the certain items that needed to be hung. Fancy shirts, new jeans, bras, etc. Now I hang everything I possibly can. I hang shirts (all~ except the few that need the dryer to regain their shape!), sweaters, all jeans and pants, bras, tank tops, and basically anything that doesn't need the heat of the dryer to kill bacteria. I think I may need to invest in a second drying rack because of the over flow getting thrown on the back of chairs.

Trick # 3: Whenever I visit my parents, which isn't as often as it probably should be, I bring a load or two of laundry. It's practically expected at this point. About twice a month I go to my sisters and bring a few loads of laundry. She lets me monopolize her laundry facilities for a few hours in exchange for a few household chores. Its great because its always simple work and I get to spend a few hours with my little niece and two nephews.

I also cut costs with the detergent and softener products I use. I try to buy when on sale and using a coupons when possible. I have also made some of my own laundry detergent and softener sheets, that a post will be made about in the near future.