There is no need to rely on expensive top-of-the-line washing machines and detergents to get your clothes clean. Not when you have some frugal tricks up your sleeve, um, I mean in your laundry basket.
If you watch the television commercials, they seem to imply that you’ll never get your clothes really clean unless your washing machine has enough dials, buttons and levers to launch the space shuttle. the same is true for those “super” detergents that are full of the latest chemicals. One thing they all have in common is that they are expensive.
If you don’t want to go that route, check out these cheap laundry tricks. Your clothes will be clean and you will have saved a bunch of money.
There are quite a few laundry pre-treaters on the market today. Those little bottles cost a lot and contain a little. A more frugal solution is to purchase a bottle of cheap shampoo and use that as a pre-treater. In an emergency, I have used shampoo as a full laundry detergent. Baby shampoo can be used to hand wash items.
Baseball caps can gain new life with a quick trip through the dishwasher. Yes, not the washing machine. The top rack of the dishwasher will wash the cap without changing its shape. Run the cap through on the normal or quick setting. One word of caution, if you have a cap that is a dark color, check to make sure that your dish washing detergent doesn’t contain bleach.
If you have a stain on an item of clothing and have tried every way to get it out, here is a last resort method. Instead of throwing it away, apply some Clorox Clean-up gel directly to the spot. it contains bleach, which is why I list it as a last resort. Launder the item as usual.
Mary Ann Romans writes about everything related to saving money in the Frugal Blog, technology in the Computing Blog, and creating a home in the Home Blog. You can read more of her articles by clicking here.
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Frugal Laundry: Make Your Own “Detergent”
A Quick Guide to Frugal Laundry Pre-treaters