There it is, at least three days until the next paycheck, and you find yourself with ten loads of laundry and no laundry detergent. What can you do besides going around naked? Here is how to get by, frugally, until you can stock up again.
First, prioritize the clothes that need to get washed or else. Sure, you’d love to wear your favorite pair of jeans, but perhaps getting your husband’s underwear washed is more important, unless he can do without it. In an emergency, it usually perfectly fine to do one load of wash that combines different colors. Just make sure to wash everything on cold, and do not use any form of bleach, even the color-safe kind.
Is there anything that could be aired out instead of washed? Perhaps a couple of dress shirts or pants, or maybe that pair of jeans? I wouldn’t recommend just airing out underwear or towels, though.
The next thing you can do, when you find yourself without laundry detergent is to find some. If you use liquid detergent, you can usually get a couple of extra wash loads done just by rinsing the containers. Start your wash load and hold the detergent container under the stream for a minute, then pour the water back into the washer. Or, add water to the container, shake and pour it into the washer. Don’t forget to rinse out the lids or measuring cups if that applies.
In a real pinch, you can use a little bit of shampoo to do your wash. Baby shampoo is a good bet, but you can pretty much use whatever you have. Just be careful when using shampoo for oily hair. It can damage delicate fabrics, such as silk. But a shampoo formula for oily hair will do a great job on heavily soiled clothing.
Finally, if you have the ingredients handy, you can make your own laundry detergent. You can click here to read about how to do this.
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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